THE 

AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION 

AND 

THE MOURNER. 



THE 

AFFLICTED MAN'S 
COMPANION; 

OR, 

A DIRECTORY FOR PERSONS AND FAMILIES 

AFFLICTED WITH SICKNESS 



ANY OTHER DISTRESS. 

/ it 

BY THE REV. JOHN%ILLISON 1 



DUNDEE, SCOTLAND, 1727. 




PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 




Ill this edition, a considerable part of the address to the 
reader and a few lines in the body of the work, having mainly 
a local application, have "been dropped, and a number of words 
and phrases used by the worthy author, which have become 
somewhat obsolete since the period at which he wrote, have 
been changed for others more generally understood at the pres- 
ent time. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction, - • ■••■> 2-5 

CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS TO ALL FAMILIES AND PERSONS 
VISITED WITH SICKNESS. 

1. Diligently inquire into the ends and designs for which Grod usually sends 
sickness and affliction upon men, ■ 27 

2. Let all who are visited with sickness or distress, search for the Achan in 
the camp, and inquire diligently what is the ground and cause of Grod's 
controversy with them, • 32 

3. When any fit of sickness attacks you, think seriously upon death, and make 
diligent preparations for it, • 36 

4. Be not anxious for recovery to health, but leave the issue of your present 
sickness to the will and pleasure of the infinitely wise Grod, 40 

5. Bind yourself with holy purposes and resolutions, in Christ's strength, to be 
more watchful against sin, more diligent in duty, and to improve the time 
of health better, if Grod shall be pleased to restore it again to you, • • ■ 42 

6. Set your house in order by making your will and settling your domestic and 
secular affairs, while you have freedom and capacity for doing it,- • • • 43 



CHAPTER II. 

PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO ARE SHARPLY 
AFFLICTED WITH SICKNESS OR LONG TROUBLE. 

1. Justify Grod in the greatest afflictions which befall you, 47 

2. Labor to be sensible of Grod's hand under heavy affliction, and beware of 
stupidity and unconcern under it, 50 

3. Beware of misconstruing Grod's dealings towards you, and of charging him 

foolishly, , 52 

4. Under sore trouble and distress, labor to exercise a strong and lively 
faith, 53 

5. Labor to bear with patience whatever load of trouble the Lord appoints for 
you, 56 

6. Beva-e of envying wicked men, when you see them in health and prosper- 
ity, 60 

7. Guard against repining and murmtiring against the providence of Gfod, 
urder heavy sickness and affliction, • 61 



6 



CONTENTS. 



. CHAPTER III. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD WHEN 
UNDER SICKNESS OR ANY OTHER AFFLICTION. 

1. Let believers especially guard against fainting or desponding under (rod's 
afflicting hand, - 70 

2. Let the children of God be exemplary in patience and submission to him 
under their affliction, 78 

3. Let believers be much employed in the praises of God, while they are under 
affliction by sickness or otherwise, 85 

4. Let the children of God, when visited with sickness, set about actual prep- 
aration for death and eternity, 89 

5 Let believers in time of sickness endeavor all they can to glorify God, and 
edify those that are about them by their conversation and behavior, • • 96 

6 Let God's children, when sick or dying, feel and manifest a great concern for 
the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, and of true religion among the 
rising generation, 102 

7. Let the children of God labor to fortify themselves against all Satan's temp- 
tations and assaults, which they may expect to meet with in time of sick- 
ness and affliction, 104 



CHAPTER IV. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS TO UNREGENERATE PERSONS, 
WHEN AFFLICTED BY SICKNESS OR OTHERWISE. 

1. Take a serious view of the miserable condition of a Christless person under 
sickness or heavy affliction, ■ 109 

2. Let unregenerate persons carefully improve their sickness and affliction, as 
a means to further their conversion, and pray that God may bless it for 
that end, Ill 

3. -Be careful to obey God's voice in the rod, and beware of slightirg it, • 113 

4. Cast back your eyes upon the sins of your past life, and labor to be deeply 
humbled for them before the Lord, 114 

5. Flee immediately to Jesus Christ by a true faith, and clo?;e with him as 
offered to you in the gospel, 116 

6. Call for the elders of the church, that they may pray over yvu in your sick- 
ness, 116 

CHAPTER V. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD WHEN THE LORD IS 
PLEASED TO RECOVER THEM FROM SICKNESS AND 
DISTRESS 

1. It is very proper, both under sickness and after it, to examine if the afflic- 
tion be sanctified to you, and hath come from the love of God, 119 

2. Make conscience of offering to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, upon his 
recovering thee from sickness or any distress, 120 



CONTENTS. 



3. When the Lord is pleased to grant thee any signal mercy or deliverance 
from trouble, beware of forgetting the Lord's kindness towards thee, - 124 

4. Inquire after those fruits of righteousness which are the genuine effects of 
affliction in the children of God, who are didy exercised thereby, • ■ • • 125 

5. Be careful to perform those resolutions, engagements, or vows you have 
come under in the time of sickness, and walk suitably to them, 128 



CHAPTER VI. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE UNRE GENERATE WHEN RECOVER- 
ED FROM SICKNESS AND RESTORED TO HEALTH. 

L Seeing the afflictions of the wicked are unsanctified, it is necessary ycu 
examine what sort of affliction yours hath been, and what fruits it hath 
produced in you, 131 

2. Consider the great danger of not being made better by sickness, and of not 
complying with the voice of Cod's rod, 133 

3. Wonder at the patience of Cod in sparing such hell-deserving sinners as 
you are, and be thankful for it, 135 

4. Study to improve the sparing mercy and goodness of Cod to you in a right 
and suitable manner, > 137 



CHAPTER VII. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE SICK WHO ARE APPARENTLY IN A 
DYING CONDITION, AND DRAWING NEAR TO ANOTHER 
WORLD. 

1. Consider, when death stares you in the face, that now is the time, if ever, 
to exert the utmost activity in preparing to meet it, 142 

2. Continue to the last in the exercise of true repentance and humiliation for 
sin, 146 

3. Be mindful of all acts of justice and charity which may be incumbent upon 
you at this time, 147 

4. Labor to overcome the love of life and the fear of death, that you may 
attain to willingness to die and leave the world when Cod calleth you to 
it, 149 

5. Study to imitate the ancient worthies, by dying in faith, • • • • . . 158 

6. Place the example of other dying saints before you, and study in like man- 
ner to shine in grace, and be exemplary in piety and heavenly discourse, 
for the glory of Cod and good of souls, when you are going off the 
stage, 160 

7. Let dying persons be much in prayer and ejaculations to Cod, 200 

Meditations and ejaculations proper for a sick and dying person, and especially 

for a dying believer, ■ 202 

Meditations for drooping believers when death is near, 208 

Additional meditations proper for any sick person in the view of death, • • 213 



8 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF THE 
SICK; WHO ARE THEMSELVES IN HEALTH FOR THE 
TIMF . 

1. Be very thankful to God for the great mercy of health and strength, and 
improve it to his glory, ■ - - 222 

2 Make conscience of visiting your sick friends and neighbors, believing it 
your duty and interest so to do, 223 

3. Let the friends of the sick, and those who visit them, deal faithfully with 
them about their souls, 224 

4. Be earnest in prayer to God for your friends when sick or dying; pray with 
them and for them, • 231 

Petitions for the sick, 232 

5. Be careful to furnish your friends with suitable company and spiritual con- 
verse, when they are sick or dying, 234 

6. Be likewise suitably concerned for the bodies of your friends, when they are 
sick, - 236 

7. When the sickness of your relations or neighbors doth issue in death, study 
a Christian and suitable behavior under such a dispensation, 236 

8.. Let the sickness and death of others be a warning to you in time of health, 
to make due preparation for the time of sickness and dying which is be- 
fore you, 244 

9. Let those who are in health set about the work of repentance and turning 
to (xod in Christ quickly, and beware of delaying this work until the time 
of sickness and of dying. • 2-52 



FEOM 

THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS TO THE READER. 



The subject of this book, however melancholy it may 
appear to some, is of vital importance to all, seeing the 
word of God and our own experience assure us that " man 
who is born of a woman, is of few days and full of trouble," 
and that he "is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." 
Nay, God's dearest children are not exempted from this 
common fate. "We see what is the character God giveth 
his church : " 0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not 
comforted !" Isa. 54 : 11. 

If in this world then we must look for tribulation, it is 
highly necessary for every man to seek direction how to 
provide for it, and behave under it, so that he may glorify 
God, edify others, and attain to eternal happiness at last. 
The tribulations we have to look for here are manifold ; but 
among those that are outward, I know none about which 
men ought to be more thoughtful and concerned, than bodily 
sickness, which often is the harbinger of death, and ushers 
the way to judgment. 

This is a subject not much discussed in public sermons, 
which are delivered only to them that are in health, the 
sick being unable to attend them. "Wherefore it seems the 
more necessary to treat of it in writing, that so the afflicted 
may have a book in their houses, and at their bedsides, as 
a monitor to preach to them in private, when they are 
restrained "from hearing sermons in public. 

And though sometimes ministers' sermons may be very 
1* 



10 



TO THE READER. 



suitable to the case of the sick and afflicted, yet, alas, most 
men are careless and forgetful hearers of these things while 
they are in health and prosperity, reckoning the evil day at 
a distance from them. A book, then, such as the follow- 
ing directory, being with them in time of sickness or afflic- 
tion, may, by the divine blessing, be useful to bring to their 
remembrance those counsels and admonitions which they 
very much neglected in the time of their health. 

Again, ministers of the gospel, though never so much 
inclined to attend the sick, yet, by reason of disability, and 
a multiplicity of other work, cannot be always with them 
to counsel and comfort them. But such a book as this they 
may have ever at hand to consult with. 

And since the afflicted, for the most part, are not able to 
read for themselves, it would be a most charitable work for 
friends or neighbors that attend them, to lay hold on proper 
seasons for reading such a book as this in their hearing, and 
especially such chapters or directions as they judge most 
suitable for them. Thus you might be helped in some 
measure to free your consciences, and do your last offices of 
kindness to your sick and dying friends, when you can serve 
them no longer in this world. * # 

Seeing we all have many harbingers and forerunners of 
death before our eyes, it will be highly our wisdom to keep 
ourselves in a waiting posture, always ready* and willing to 
die. What is there in this weary land to tempt us to desire 
to abide in it ? Is it not a land overwhelmed with sin and 
sorrow ? 0, believers, are you tossed with tempests here ? 
seek the wings of a dove, that you may flee away and be 
it rest. Be habitually desiring to depart, that you may be 
with Christ. Surely for you to die is gain, yea, infinite gain. 
WTiat are the imaginary pleasures of this world, to the real 
nappiness of the next ? Though the struggles of death be 
grievous to nature, yet the gain of dying should reconcile 
you to it. You do not shrink from the trouble of putting 



TO THE READER. 



off your clothes at night to gam a little rest to your bodies ; 
and why should you shrink from unclothing yourselves of 
the garment of flesh at God's call, to gain everlasting rest 
to your souls, and the fruition of Christ's glorious presence 
for ever ? Let the thoughts of this gain put you upon using 
all means to get your hearts weaned from the love of the 
world and its comforts. Keep the mantle of earthly enjoy- 
ments hanging loose about you, especially in these calami- 
tous times, that so it may be easily dropped when death 
comes to carry you to the eternal world. 0, for a more 
lively faith of that world, and of him who is Lord and 
purchaser of it. But seeing this subject is enlarged upon 
in the book itself, I shall add no more here upon it. I 
only subjoin a collection of some sweet and comforting 
texts oT Scripture, very proper for dying believers to medi- 
tate and feed on by faith, to cling to and plead with God, 
and draw consolation from, when they have a near prospect 
of going through the dark valley and entering into the 
unknown regions of eternity. God's word will then be our 
hope. 



12 



COMFORTING TEXTS. 



COMFORTING TEXTS FOR DYING- BELIEVERS. 

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
a:»d I will give you rest. Matt. 11 : 28. Him that cometh 
to me, I will in nc wise cast out. John 6 : 37. 

In my Fathers house are many mansions : if it were 
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for 
you. And if.I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there 
ye may be also. John 14 : 2, 3. 

Because I live, ye shall live also. John 14 : 19. 

Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord 
Jesus. Rev. 22: 20. 

There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. 
Heb. 4:9. 

I have waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord. Gen. 49 : 18. 

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ; foi 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Luke 2 : 29, 30. 

He is the Rock; his work is perfect. Deut. 32 : 4. 

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Psa. 
138:8. 

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath 
begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day oi 
Jesus Christ. Phil. I : 6. 

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after 
my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I 
see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold and not another, though my reins be consumed 
within me* Job 19 : 25, 26, 27. 

Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath 
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in alLthings 
and sure ; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire 
2 Sam. 23 : 5. 



COMFORTING TEXTS 



13 



Into thy hand I commit my spirit : thou hast redeem- 
ed me, 0 Lord God of truth. Psalm 31:5. 

For this God is our God for ever and ever ; he will be 
our guide even unto death. Psalm 48 : 14. 

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwaids 
receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? 
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My 
flesh and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength of my 
heart, and my portion for ever. Psalm 73 : 24-26. 

• The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken and 
a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 
51 : 17. 

0 that I had wings like a dove ; for then would I fly 
away, and be at rest. I would hasten my escape from the 
windy storm and tempest. Psalm 55 : 6, 8. 

Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as 
the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers 
with yellow gold. Psalm 68 : 13. 

The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all 
sin. 1 John, 1 : 7. 

Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of 
Jesus. Heb. 10:19. 

He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee 
Jesus Christ — the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. 
Heb. 13 : 5, 8. 

He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delight- 
eth in mercy. Micah 7:18. 

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Job 13:15. 

In his name shall the Gentiles trust. Matt. 12 : 21. 

Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psa. 2*12 
' He knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we are 
dust. Psalm 103 : 14. 

1 loathe it; I would not live always. Job 7 : 16. 

We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a housa not 



14 



COMFORTING TEXTS. 



made with hands, eternal in the heavens. "VYe are willing 
rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with 
the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:1,8. 

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Having 
a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 
Phil. 1 : 21, 23. 

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 
Psalm 39 : 7. 

My beloved is mine, and I am his. His left hand is 
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. 
Awake, 0 north wind, and come, thou south ; blow upon 
my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my 
beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. 
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away. Make 
haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young 
hart upon the mountains of spices. Cant. 2:6, 16, 17, and 
4 : 16, and 8 : 14. 

0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy 
victory ? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15 : 55, 57. 

The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that 
day ; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing. 2 Tim. 4 : 6-8. 

The day of death is better than the day of one's birth. 
Eccles. 7:1. 

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
are passed away. Rev. 21 : 4. 

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of 
whom l am chief 1 Tim. 1 : 15. 



COMFORTING TEXTS-. 



15 



God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. John 3:16. 

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no 
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 
2 Cor. 5:21. 

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Cor. 
9 : 15. 

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited 
and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of 
salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Luke 
1 : 68, 69. 

Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 
Then shall we be caught up together with them in the 
clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever 
be with the Lord. 1 Thess. 4 : 14, 17. 

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in , 
his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for ever 
and ever. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive 
power and glory. Rev. 1 : 5, 6, and 5 : 12. 

We know that we have passed from death unto life, 
because we love the brethren. 1 John, 3 : 14. 

I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8 : 38, 39. 

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that 
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him 
against that day. 2 Tim. 1 : 12. 

I count all things but loss and dung that I may win 
Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own right- 
eousness, which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ. Phil. 3 : 8, 9. 



16 



DYING EJACULATIONS. 



Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor. 
1 : 30. 

"We rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in 
the flesh. Phil. 3:3. 

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet 
to he partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light* Col. 
1:12. 

Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall 
see him. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Rev. 1 : 7, 
and 22 : 20. 

Dundee, 5th June, 1741. 



DYING EJACULATIONS, . 

WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR A FEW DAYS BEFORE HE DIED, AND 
LEFT WITH HIS BIBLE LYING ON HIS PILLOW, MAY, 1750. 

0 let me sleep in Jesus ! 

1 would not live always in this evil world, that has little 
in it tempting, and seems still to grow worse, and where the 
torrent of sin and backsliding seems to grow stronger. 

I would desire to depart and be with Christ, which is 
far better than to be here. I am willing rather to be absent 
from the body, and present with the Lord. Whom have 1 
in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth I desire 
besides thee : for though my heart, strength, and flesh fail, 
yet the Lord will be the strength of my heart, and my 
portion for ever. 

Now, Lord, what wait I for ? my hope is in thee ; I have 
waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord. 

0 for Simeon's frame of mind, to be saying, " Lord, now 
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes have 
seen thy -salvation." 



DYING- EJACULA1 tOUS. 



17 



When Christ says, " Surely I come quickly ;" may my 
bouI answer, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 

I am living on the righteousness of Christ, yea, dying in 
the Lord. Even so, come. I am detained here upon the 
shore, waiting for a fair wind to carry me over this Jordan, 
i have waited, and will wait for thy salvation, 0 Lord. 
The Loid is a rock, and his work is perfect; Lord, perfect 
what concerneth me. 

0, that I could say with Paul, " I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give 
me at his coming." 

I am vile and polluted. 0, how shall I he cleansed ? 
But that is a comforting promise, " The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." And so is that. 
" Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as 
doves whose wings are covered with silver, and their feathers 
with yellow gold." 

I resolve to obey, to submit to the Lord's will, to die like 
Moses and Aaron, the one at mount Hor, the other at mount 
Abarim. They went up and died there, at the command 
of the Lord. 

0, that when my flesh and strength fail, God may be 
the strength of my heart and my portion for ever ! When 
now the keepers of the house do tremble, 0 that God may 
be the keeper ! "When the grinders cease, because they are 
few, 0 that God would feed my soul with manna, that will 
need none of these implements ! When the daughters of 
music are brought low, 0 to be fitted for the heavenly music 
above ! When the lookers-out at the windows are darkened, 
0 that my soul may be enlightened to see Jesus my 
Redeemer ! 

• Lord, help the unbelief and infidelity of my heart ; and 



lb 



DYING EJACULATIONS. 



help to more of the faith of a risen Jesus, and an ascended 
Redeemer. 0 let me believe and feel the sweetness of that 
word of Christ, " I ascend to my Father and your Father, 
and to my God and your God." 

0 how shall such an unholy creature as I, presume to 
enter into such a pure and holy place ? But the apostle has 
taught us, we may have boldness to enter into the holiest 
of all by the blood of Jesus. 

0 that when the time of my last combat comes with 
my last enemy death, I may be helped above all to take 
the shield of faith, whereby I may be relieved from the 
sting of death, and may quench the fiery darts of the 
wicked one. 

0 that I may be helped to adore the sovereignty of 
God, kiss his rod, and humbly submit to it. Save me from 
both extremes ; let me never despise the chastening of the 
Lord, nor faint when I am rebuked of him. 

Now the prince of darkness will study to raise tempests 
of temptations to shipwreck the poor weather-beaten vessel 
of my soul, when it would enter into the harbor of rest 
above : may Christ come to be pilot ; take thou the helm 
and all shall be safe. 

0 for more faith ; may my faith ripen to a full assurance, 
that I may go off the stage rejoicing, and that an abundant 
entrance may be ministered to me into the kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

0 for more faith, that I may die like Simeon when he 
had Christ in his arms, saying, Now let thy servant depart 
in peace ; mine eyes have seen thy salvation. 

Lord, one smile of thy countenance would banish away 
all my doubts and fears, and make me sing in pain. 

Is my Redeemer gone to prepare a place for me ? why 
should I be slothful to follow his steps, when he is saying, 
Come up hither; come up. dwell here, come up, reign 
here ; come up, sing here ? 



DYING EJACULATIONS. 



19 



0 Lord, deliver my soul from death, my eyes from 
tears, and my feet from falling. 0 save me froni the 
horrible pit, draw me out of the miry clay, set my feet upon 
a rock, and establish my goings, and put a new song in my 
month. 

0 give me grace to strive by faith and prayer to enter 
in at the strait gate. Lord, thou hast bid me Knock, and it 
shall be opened ; ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye 
shall find. Lord, I knock — open unto me; Lord, I would 
be in, I must be in ; let me but in over the threshold ; let 
me in within sight of my Redeemer's face, within sight of 
the smiles of his countenance ; let me within hearing of the 
songs of the redeemed ; let me but get to the outside of that 
praising company; I shall be well enough if I get in. 
Lord, in I must be ; out I cannot stay. 0 shut me not out 
with swearers, Sabbath-breakers, and other profane persons. 
Lord, I never chose their company while in this world ; do 
not gather my soul with sinners hereafter. 

The redeemed thou art gathering, and the wicked also : 
Lord, gather me with thy flock ; they are fast assembling ; 
the church's Head is gone ; he has left the earth, and entered 
into his glory ; my brethren and friends, many of them, have 
arrived where he is ; I am yet behind. 0 how great is the 
difference between my state and theirs. I am groaning ouf 
my complaint, they are singing Gred's praise. I am in 
darkness and cannot see thy face, but they behold thee face 
to face. 0 should I be satisfied to stay behind, when my 
friends are gone ? 0 help me to look after them with a 
steadfast eye, and cry, 0 Lord, how long ? 

O heavenly Father, draw me after Jesus ; for none can 
come to him without thine aid. 0 Father, draw me up 
there where he is, and I will mount up as on eagles' wings. 
0 draw me ; and when thou seemest to fly from me, Lord, 
enable me to follow hard after thee. 

0 thou who rememberedst the dying thief, when on the 



20 



DYING EJACULATIONS. 



way to thy kingdom, 0 remember me now thou art seated 
in thy kingdom, and say to my soul when I am dying, 
" This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." 

Lord, I am called to the work I never did ; 0 give me the 
strength I never had. 0 strengthen me like Samson for this 
once, when at death, to pull down the stronghold of sin in 
me. Lord, wash away my sins in the blood of Christ, and 
then my soul shall not sink in the ocean of thy wrath. 

0 what is my life but a vapor ; a sand-glass of sixty or 
seventy years ! 0 how fast does it run down ! 0 vain love 
of life ! 0 give me grace to overcome the love of life, and 
the fear of death. 0 for more patience and less fretting. If 
the damned had hope of being saved from hell after a thou- 
sand years of my pain, how willingly would they endure it ! 
Blessed be God, my pains are no hell, their state is not 
mine. 

Lord, draw near to me ; my body is full of trouble, and 
my life draws near to the grave. But, Lord, thy loving- 
kindness is better than life. 0 make thy loving-kindness 
sure to me, and I will willingly part with this dying life. 

0 that I could make all the world see the beauty of my 
precious and adorable Saviour. 

Nothing but an interest in Christ can give peace in 
life, or comfort in death. He is the chief among ten thou- 
sand, and altogether lovely. My body is in part dead, but I 
know I cannot die eternally while Jesus lives. I must go 
down to the grave ; but what is the grave ? it is but a refining 
pot. Since my Saviour lay in it, it is but a bed of roses. 
" He is the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley." 

It was his free grace that drew me and made me willing 
in the day of his power ; no desire, no merit in me ; it was 
all free and undeserved. 

0 let the chastisement of my body be the medicine of my 
soul, to cure me of sin and bring me to sincere repentance for 
it; for Christ was wounded for our transgressions, he was 

I 



DYING EJACULATIONS. 21 . 

bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him. 

Lord, remember the chastisement of Christ for sin, and 
let my pains be the chastisement of a father, and not the 
wounds of an enemy. Let Christ's sufferings mitigate 
mine. 

I rejoice in the prospect of that glorious inheritance 
reserved in safety. I could not comfortably enter eternity 
any other way but in and through this God-man Mediator : 
if he was not God as well as man, I could not be supported ; 
but he is God. 

Oh, this precious Saviour, he is my all in all ; he is my 
all-sufficient good, my portion, and my choice ; in him my 
vast desires are fulfilled, and all my powers rejoice : I am trav- 
elling through a wilderness to a city of habitation, whose 
builder and maker is God. 

Oh, delightful thought ! that I, who was going on in sin, 
should be plucked as a brand out of the burning. Oh, how 
will they lie on a death-bed who have nothing but their 
own works to fly to ? with only this to depend upon, I should 
be the most miserable of all creatures ; but the long white 
robe of my Hedeemer's righteousness is all my desire. They 
are truly blessed, they alone are happy, who are enabled to 
exult in the garment of celestial glory which never waxeth 
old — in the illustrious robe of a Saviour's consummate right- 
eousness, which is incorruptible and immortal. This is a robe 
which hides every sin, of thought, Word, or deed, that I have 
committed. Oh, how unspeakably happy are they who are 
justified by this all-perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and who therein can constantly triumph and glory ! 

Lord, I live upon Christ, I live upon his righteousness, 
I live upon his blood and merits; yea, I die also leaning 
wholly upon this Hock and Corner-stone. It is not past 
experiences or manifestations I depend upon ; it is Christ, a 
present all-sufficient Saviour, and perfect righteousness in 



22 DYING WORDS OF THE AUTHOR. 




him, I look to. All my attainments are but loss and dung 
beside him. 

When I find myself polluted, I go to this fountain for 
cleansing. Lord, give me delight in approaching to thee, 
delight to be at a throne of grace. 0 that I could make my 
bed there, he, and die there. 

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent 
take it. by force. 0 for strength to offer a holy violence by 
faith and prayer. 

Thus the author died as he lived, testifying the power of 
religion upon himself; and that at a time when men have 
most need of its comforts. 



DYING WORDS OF THE AUTHOR 

TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, FOUND AMONG HIS PAPERS AFTER 
HIS DEATH, DATED NOV. 10, 1749. 

TO MY WIFE. 

My Dear — My distress calls me to think of parting with 
youj the will of the Lord be done. I thank you for your 
tender care of me ; may the Lord bless and reward you for 
it, and sanctify your own tenderness, and support you under 
it. As you have studied to live a life of faith and prayer all 
your days, so I hope and believe you will continue to the end. 
In all your difficulties and fears, encourage yourself in the 
Lord your God. Commit your ways to him ; trust Him that 
is faithful and true. I resign you, my dear, to the Husband 
of husbands, our dearest Lord Jesus Christ. 

TO MY CHILDREN. 

Dear Children — Your earthly father must leave you : 
your heavenly Father is immortal. 0, cleave fast to him. 
Trifle not about your souls' concerns in time of health ; mind 
these things as the one thing needful ; this you will not repent 



DYING- WORDS OF THE AUTHOR. 23 



of when you come within a near view of death, and endless 
eternity. 0 press for clear views of your interest in Christ, 
the only Surety and Saviour of sinners. Among other evi- 
dences of it, live by faith on him, and study holiness in heart 
and life. Dear children, think how you will be able to stand 
before Christ your Judge at the last day, unless you have 
Christ's image on you, and be made neAV creatures. The 
Lord make you all such, and bless you with his best blessing. 
My blessing be upon you all. What means God gave me, I 
have bestowed them on you, or left them to you. Be kind 
and careful of your mother while you have her. And let 
none of you forget, that though I go before you to the dust, 
you must all quickly follow me. 0 that we may all meet 
together at the right hand of our Redeemer, to see his face, 
and sing his praise. The time is near, be ye therefore also 
ready. 

Now, my dear wife and children, remember what is 
above, as the words of your affectionate husband, and loving 
father, who, being dead, yet hereby speaketh to you for your 
eternal good and happiness. May they sink into your heart. 
So prayeth 

JOHN WILLISON. 



THE 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Man, when lie first came from his Maker's hand, was 
holy and innocent, pure from sin, and consequently free from 
sickness and trouble, enjoying uninterrupted health and 
prosperity, both in body and soul. But no sooner was he 
tainted with sin, than he became liable to all sorts of mise- 
ries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal ; his soul being the res- 
idence of sins and lusts, his body turned the receptacle of 
sickness and diseases. And seeing God's own children have 
the relics of sin and corruption in them, while in this world 
they are not to expect exemption from such afflictions ; and 
the infinitely wise God sees meet to make use of bodily 
diseases to correct the corruptions, and try the graces of his 
people, and to promote both their spiritual and eternal advan- 
tage. Hence it is said of Lazarus, " Behold, he whom thou 
lovest is sick." John 11: 3. He was beloved, and yet 
sick. It is no rare thing for the dearest of God's saints to 
be put to chatter like cranes and mourn like doves, by rea- 
son of sore sickness, as Hezekiah did. Isa. 38 : 14. Sanc- 
tified and healthy souls may be matched with weak and 
sickly bodies, as was Gaius. 3 John, 2. Still, the case 
is sometimes most trying, even to the best of God's people ; 
and they are never more ready to question God's love, or 
quarrel with his providence, than under heavy sickness and 

Aff. Man's Comp. 2 



26 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

bodily distress. It is therefore highly the concern of all, 
whether families or private persons, to inquire how they 
ought to behave under or after afflicting sickness ; and how 
they shall provide for such an evil time -before it comes. 
And for the help of all that desire instruction in this matter, 
I have written the following directory, which, for method's 
sake, I shall divide into several chapters. 

1. General directions to all families and persons visited 
with sickness and affliction. 

2. Particular directions to those who are sharply afflicted 
with sore sickness and long troubleT 

3. Directions to the children of God under sickness. 

4. Directions to unregenerate persons under sickness. 

5. Directions to the people of God when recovered from 
sickness. 

6. Directions to unrenewed persons recovered from sick- 
ness. 

7. Directions to those sick persons who are, apparently, 
in a dying condition. 

8. Directions to the relations, acquaintances, and neigh- 
bors of the sick, who are themselves in health for the 
time. 

N. B. Let it be remembered, that what I say to those 
visited with sickness, is likewise applicable to all other 
afflicted persons, whatever their distress be. 



GENERAL DIRE C HONS. 



27 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS TO ALL FAMILIES AND PERSONS 
VISITED WITH SICKNESS. 

Direction 1. Diligently inquire into the ends and designs for 
•which God usually sends sickness and afflictions upon men. 

An infinitely holy and gracious God hath various and 
wise ends in afflicting the children of men, whether they be 
converted or unconverted, which ought to be duly consid- 
ered by all, and especially by those who are visited with 
sickness ; some of which I shall mention. 

1. God visits with sickness, to cause careless sinners to 
bethink themselves concerning their soul's estate, who, per- 
haps, never had a serious thought about it before. There 
are many who, when in health and strength, are so intent 
upon the pleasures and profits of the world that they mind 
nothing else ; all the warnings, exhortations, and counsels 
of ministers, teachers, and friends, are lost upon them ; they 
cannot endure to entertain a thought of God, of the soul*, 
of death, of heaven, of hell, or of judgment to come, till 
God doth cast them into some sickness or bodily distress ; 
and then sometimes they begin, with the prodigal, to come 
to themselves, and bethink themselves concerning their 
souls and a future life. Now, this is God's design: "If 
they bethink themselves in the land whither they are car- 
ried captives, and repent." 1 Kings, 8 : 47. By sickness, 
God gives a man that before was wholly diverted from 
the care of his soul by business, company, and pleasures, 
occasion to bethink himself. The man is now confined 
to his chamber, is deprived of his former company and 
diversions, and so gets time and leisure to commune with 
his own heart, and reflect on his former ways, and to hear 
what conscience speaks concerning a judgment-day, and a • 
world to come, and his need of a Saviour. And so, by the 



28 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



blessing of God upon such, afflictions, not a few have begun 
their first acquaintance with God and Christ, and serious 
religion. Nay, it is in the furnace that Christ has usually 
formed the most excellent vessels of honor and praise. " I 
have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isa. 48 : 10. 
Manasseh, the prodigal, Paul, and the jailer, were all chosen 
there. 

2. God visits us with sickness, in order to instruct and 
teach us things we know not. Psa. 90 : 12. It was the 
saying of Luther, Via crucis est via lucis — The path of the 
cross is the path of light. And indeed the school of afflic- 
tion is the place where many of Zion's scholars have made 
good proficiency in spiritual and experimental knowledge. 
Now, there are several remarkable lessons which God would 
teach us by the rod. 

One is the knowledge of God. It is said of Manasseh, 
" When he was in affliction, then Manasseh knew that the 
Lord was God." 2 Chron. 33 : 12, 13. Though Manasseh 
was well educated, and early taught the knowledge of God, 
yet till now he knew not the Lord ; but now he knew him 
in his power and greatness, his holiness and hatred of sin ; 
now he knew God in his goodness and mercy, and wondered 
that he had kept him so long out of hell. 

Another lesson is the knowledge of ourselves. In time 
of health and prosperity, we are apt to forget ourselves and 
our mortality : but sickness causeth us to know that we are 
but men, and frail men, Psalm 9 : 20 — that God hath an 
absolute sovereignty over us, and can as easily crush us as 
We do a moth. 

He teacheth us the emptiness of the world. How vain 
a help is that which fails a man in the time of his greatest 
need ; and ofttimes we see, that worldly means and friends 
can neither give the least ease to the bodies, nor comfort to 
the souls of persons under sickness and distress. 

Another lesson is the great evil of sin, which is the cause 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



29 



of all sickness and diseases whatsoever. "For this cause 
many are weak and sickly among you.". 1 Cor. 11 : 30. 
Ah, what a root of bitterness must that be, which brings 
forth such bitter fruit ! 

He showeth us the preciousness and excellency of Christ 
and his promises, which, alone can enable a Christian to 
rejoice in tribulation, and be calm under the greatest pains 
and diseases. There are many who are indifferent about 
Christ in time of health, who, when sickness comes, through 
the blessing of God do change their note, and cry, 0 for an 
interest in Christ above all things ! 

3. God sends such trials and distresses, in order to mor- 
tify and kill sin in us. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob 
be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin." 
Isa. 27 : 9. And indeed sickness and affliction have a ten- 
dency to weaken and subdue our prevailing sins and lusts. 
0 man, is thy heart turned hard, so that thou art not sensible 
of thy own sins or of others' sufferings ? God sees meet to 
try the fire of affliction, to see if it will melt thy frozen 
heart. Hast thou undervalued health, and slighted thy 
mercies ? Now God removes them from thee, that by the 
want of them thou may est know the worth of them. Art 
thou turned proud and self-conceited ? God sends thee a 
thorn in the flesh to prick the swollen bladder of pride, that 
thou mayest not be puffed up above measure ; God lays thee 
low upon thy bed, that thou mayest be lowly in thy heart. 
Doth love to the world prevail in thee ? God sends affliction 
to discover its emptiness, and wean thee from it. Art thou 
fallen secure, dead, and formal ? God sends affliction to 
awake thee, that thou mayest not sleep the sleep of death. 

4. God sends sickness to awaken in us the spirit of 
prayer and supplication, and make us more earnest and 
importunate in our addresses to the throne of grace. There 
is a great difference between our prayers in health and in 
sickness, between our humiliations in prosperity and in adver- 



30 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION, 



sity. In prosperity we pray heavily and drowsily ; but 
adversity adds wings to our desires. " Lord, in trouble have 
they visited thee ; they poured out a prayer when thy 
chastening was upon them." Isa. 26 : 16. Though they 
were backward enough to prayer before, yet they pour it out 
most freely now. The very heathen mariners cried aloud 
to God in a storm. What' a famous prayer did Manasseh 
make when he was under his iron fetters. We find it thrice 
mentioned. 2 Chron. 33 : 13, 18, 19. And the voice of 
fervent prayer is what the Lord desires to hear.' 

5. Another end is, to loosen our hearts from the things 
of this world, and cause us to look and long for heaven. 
When we enjoy health and ease in this world, we are apt 
to say with Peter on the mount, "It is good for us to be 
here;" but when distress cometh, God's people will turn 
their tongue, and say with the Psalmist, " It is good for me 
to draw near to God." Psalm 73 : 28. When things here 
go well with us, we are apt to think ourselves at home ; but 
when trouble ariseth, we begin to say, Arise, let us depart, 
this is not our rest. Though heaven was much out of sight 
and out of mind before, yet, when afflicting sickness comes, 
the poor believer will sigh, and say with David, " 0 that I 
had wings, like a dove : for then would I fly away and be 
at rest. I would hasten my escape from the windy 
tempest." Psalm 55 : 6. 

6. God designs to make the world bitter, and Christ 
sweet to us. By such afflictions, he lets men see that the 
world is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit — that 
riches avail not in the day of wrath ; then it is that they 
may see the insufficiency of the world to relieve them — that, 
as one saith, "A velvet slipper cannot cure the gout s a 
golden cap cannot drive away the headache, nor a bed cf 
down give ease in a fever." And as the world turns bitter, 
so Christ grows sweet to the believer. In time of ease and 
health, Christ is often very much neglected and forgot. As 



G-E NERAL DIRECTIONS. 



31 



the disciples, while the sea was calm, suffered Christ to 
sleep with them in the ship, thinking they might make their 
voyage well enough without his help ; but when they are 
ready to be drowned, then they see their need of Christ, 
they awake him, crying, "Master, save us, or we perish ;" 
so the best of saints, when all is easy about them, are prone 
to suffer Christ to sleep within them, and thus neglect the 
lively actings of faith on Christ ; but when, the storm of 
affliction begins to rise, and they are ready to be overwhelmed 
with distress, then they cry, " None but Christ, none but 
Christ." 

7. "God visits with sickness and distress, in order both to 
prove and improve his people's graces. Deut. 8:2; Rev. 
2 : 10. Grace is hereby both tried and strengthened. 

Such afflictions do prove both the truth and strength 
of our graces, as they serve to try if we love God for him- 
self — if we can endure and hold out in serving him, waiting 
and depending upon him, notwithstanding discouragements. 
That faith will suffice for a little affliction, that will not 
suffice for a great one. Peter had faith enough to come 
upon the sea at Christ's call; but as soon as the waves 
began to swell, his faith began to fail and his feet to sink, 
till Christ mercifully caught hold of him, saying, "0 thou 
of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" Matt. 14 : 31. 
Little did Peter think his faith was so weak till now. 

They tend to improve our graces also, by quickening 
and strengthening them. They serve as a whetstone to 
sharpen faith, so that the soul is made to renounce earthly 
shelters, and to clasp about God in Christ, as its only refuge 
and portion. They excite to repentance and serious mourn- 
ing for sin ; for, like the winter frost and snows, they make 
the fallow-ground of our heart more tender. They prompt 
us to heavenly-mind edness, self-denial, and patient waiting 
on God. Yea, the experience of God's people can attest 
it, that grace is never more lively than under affliction, 



32 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



David never found himself better, as to his spiritual state, 
than when he was persecuted and hunted as a partridge on 
the mountains ; and hence he says, " It is good for me that 
I have been afflicted." Psa. 119 : 71. 

8. God's aim is, to awaken -us to redeem time, to pre- 
pare for hitting, and clear up our evidence for heaven. In 
the time of health we are apt to trifle away time, to loiter 
on our journey, and forget that we are pilgrims on the 
earth; wherefore God sends sickness as his messenger, to 
remind us thereof. 

Now it highly concerns us, when sickness attacks us, to 
consider and meditate upon these ends for which God brings 
on distress, and pray earnestly that they may be accomplished 
in us ; and so our sickness shall not be unto death, spiritual 
or eternal, but to the glory of God and the good of our souls. 

Direction 2. Let all who are visited with sickness or distress, 
search for the Achan in the camp, and inquire diligently what 
is the ground and cause of God's controversy with them. 

It hath been the practice of God's people in scripture 
times, to inquire into the cause and meaning of God's rods 
which have been laid upon them. So David, when the land 
of Israel was three years under the stroke of famine, inquired 
into the meaning of it. 2 Sam. 21:1. So Job is exceed- 
ingly desirous to know why God set him up as a mark for hi? 
arrows. Job 7 : 20. And hence it is that he makes that peti- 
tion which is most suitable for every man in distress, " Show 
me wherefore thou contendest with me." Job 10:2. 

I grant, indeed, that God sometimes visits his people with 
affliction, for the trial and exercise of their grace and for 
their spiritual instruction, more than for the correction of 
sin. But sin being the origin and foundation of all affliction, 
it is safest, when it is our own case, and most acceptable to 
God, to look on sin as the procuring cause. Or if our sins 
have not immediately procured the present affliction, yet 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 33 

the best of God's children must own that they have at 
least deserved it. "We see the sin of the Corinthians is 
mentioned as the cause of their sickness : " For this cause 
many are weak and sickly among you." 1 Cor. 11 : 30. 
The Psalmist concludes the very same thing- : " Fools, be- 
cause of their transgression and their iniquities, are afflict- 
ed ; their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw 
nigh unto the gates of death." Psa. 107 : 17, 18. But, 
ordinarily, by sickness the Lord points at some one sin in us 
more than another — some Jonah in the ship, that hath 
raised the storm, which the Lord would have us to search 
out and throw overboard without delay. 

Question. But how shall we discover the particular sin 
for which God afflicts us with sickness or distress ? 

Answer. 1. Study the Lord's word, and the chastise- 
ments there recorded, which he hath inflicted upon people 
for their sins, and inquire if you be guilty of the like. 
Observe what hath been God's mind to his people, and what 
sin he hath pointed out to them' when they have been 
brought under such a rod, and so you may learn his mind 
to you. " For whatsoever things were written aforetime, 
were written for our learning." Rom. 15:4. 

2. Consider what is the sin of which conscience doth 
most of all accuse thee, in thy most serious and solitary 
hours. Conscience is God's deputy and thy bosom-monitor, 
whose voice, perhaps, thou hast little regarded in the day 
of thy health ; wherefore God hath sent a sharper messenger 
to second the voice of conscience. Hear now the voice ol 
the rod, for it is the same with the voice of conscience. In 
the day of prosperity, carnal profits and pleasures made 
such a noise that the voice of conscience could not be 
heard ; wherefore God hath brought on thee the silent nighi 
of adversity, that his deputy may obtain an audience. 
Well, then, give ear — what saith conscience now ? May 
you not hear it saying, as Ueuben to his brethren in distress, 

2* 



34 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Spake I not to you in the day of health, do not commit such 
a sin, and do not delay repenting for such a sin ; but you 
would not hear. 0 man, let conscience get a hearing at 
last, as it got with the patriarchs, when they were brought 
to distress in Egypt, and made to confess their sin in selling 
Joseph : " We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in 
that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, 
and we would not hear ; therefore is this distress come 
upon us." Gen. 42": 21. 

3. Consider what are the evils that others have observed 
in you, whether they be friends or foes. Hearken to what 
a Christian friend noticeth in you, either when speaking to 
you, or to others about you. "Let the righteous smite me," 
saith David, "and it shall be a kindness." Yea, do not 
disregard what enemies say of you; as David got good by 
the malicious reproaches of Shimei, in the day of his afflic- 
tion, so may you in the time of distress : for sometimes 
malice itself will speak truth. Enemies are sharp-sighted 
to spy out our faults, 1 and so may, . through the divine 
blessing, prove monitors to us, both with respect to sin and 
duty. 

4. Consider the nature and circumstances of thy distress. 
Ofttimes the affliction is so suitable to the transgression, that 
we may clearly read our sin written on the forehead of our 
punishment, as in the case of Adonibezek and many others. 
Judges 1 : 6, 7. And also you may be helped to find it out 
by the Lord's timing of the rod to you. Was it sent when 
you were under much formality in duty ; or when you were 
eagerly pursuing the things of the world; or when you 
were under the power of some prevailing lust ? then the 
rod comes to reprove you, and awake you to see the evil 
thereof. 

5. Consider what is the sin that hath been formerly most 
affrighting to thy thoughts, and perplexing to thy conscience, 
when thou hast been in the immediate view of death and 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



3-5 



judgment. It is very likely, if thou hast not truly repented 
of it, that is the sin which God now intends to awaken thee 
to see the evil of, that thou mayest sincerely mourn for 
and turn from it, looking to God in Christ for pardon and 
mercy. 

Objection. Ah, saith one, it is my lot to lie under a 
dumb and silent rod; I do not understand its language, I 
cannot hear its voice, I cannot find out the sin that is pointed 
at by it ; what course shall I take ? 

Answer. 1. Be deeply humbled under this trial, and 
bewail thy case before the Lord ; for it very much aggra- 
vates the affliction to God's people, when they know not 
the language of it. Hence was it tha,t Job lamented so 
heavily that his way was hid, and he knew not the reason 
of God's contending with him. Job 3 : 23. 

2. A believer's case may be sometimes so dark that it 
requires a great deal of spiritual wisdom to enable him to 
hear the voice of the rod, and understand its language. 
Hence it is said, " The man of wisdom shall see thy name" 
upon it. Micah 6:9. Now, this wisdom can only come 
from above; therefore, 

3. Go to God, and earnestly beg for wisdom, that you 
may know his mind, and the meaning of the rod. Do as 
Rebecca did, when she went to inquire of the Lord, saying, 
"Why am I thus?" Gen. 25 : 22. Cry to God to give 
you his Spirit, to teach and enlighten you to see sin in its 
evil, and the particular evils you are guilty of. This was 
Job's course in his affliction: " Show me wherefore thou 
contendest with me. That which I see not, teach thou me. 
Make me to know my transgression, and my sin." There 
is no better way for a prisoner to know the reason of his 
confinement, than to ask the magistrate who committed him. 
God is a wise agent, and can give the best account of his 
own actions. 

4. If thou canst not find out the particular sin foi 



36 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

which God afflicts thee, then labor to repent of every known 
sin, and cry for pardon of every unknown and forgotten sin 
also. Do that out of wisdom which Herod did out of 
malice, who, because he could not find out the babe Jesus, 
killed all the little ones of Bethlehem, that he might be 
sure to kill Jesus among them. Let us seek the utter ruin* 
and death of all our sins, that we may be sure to destroy 
that sin for which God afflicts us. 

5. Study to exercise a strong faith, and a humble sub- . 
mission, while God keeps you under the silent rod. Believe 
firmly that God is just, though you know not for what he 
contends. And however long he thinks fit to make you 
walk in the dark, resolve humbly to wait on him and com- 
mit yourself to him, who has many times guided the blind 
in a way they knew not. 

Direction 3. When any fit of sickness attacks you, think seriously 
upon death, and make diligent preparation for it. 

I do not mean that any man may delay the work of 
preparation for death till sickness cometh. No, no ; this 
should be the great and absorbing business of every man in 
the time of his health and strength. But sickness and dis- 
eases being the harbingers of death, and messengers sent 
from God to warn us of its coming, every man is thereby 
called to renew the work of preparation for death with all 
earnestness and application. God's voice by every fit of 
sickness is that in Deut. 32 : 29 : "0 that they were wise, 
that they understood this, that they would consider their 
latter end-" God knows our folly and readiness to forget 
this great work in the day of health ; and therefore, in his 
mercy, he sends sickness and affliction to teach us so to 
number our days that we may apply our hearts to this 
piece of heavenly wisdom, of making preparation for death. 
And here I shall present some motives to press this duty, 
and some advice for the doing of it aright. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



37 



1. For motives, consider these things : 

(1.) Consider God's mercy and patience towards you, in 
giving you so many warnings, and so many years to prepare 
for death, and in sending his messengers and warnings so 
gently and gradually to excite you to this work, when many 
younger and stronger than you are hurried into eternity, 
and little or no time given them to think where they are 
going. Have you not been spared many years, in the midst 
of dangers, while you have seen that bold archer, death, 
shooting his arrows, and killing thousands of your neighbors 
and friends round about you ? Sometimes the arrow hath 
glanced over your head, and slain some great man, your 
superior ; sometimes it hath alighted at your feet, and cut 
off a child or a servant, your inferior ; sometimes it hat5 
gone by on your left hand, and killed your enemy ; at other 
times it hath passed on your right hand, and killed your 
near relations. So that you have seen friends and foes, 
superiors and inferiors, relations and strangers, -dropping 
down dead around you ; and all this for a long time, to give 
you warning to prepare for death. 0 let the goodness and 
forbearance of God towards you lead you to repentance, 
and persuade you to flee .speedily to Christ for refuge and 
protection from wrath. 

(2.) Consider how terrible death will be if it meet you 
in an unprepared state, in a Christless and impenitent 
condition. What a fearful change will it bring upon you ! 
A change from earth to hell, from hope to despair, from 
pleasure to pain, from comforts to terrors ; a change from 
the offers of grace to the revelation of wrath ; a change 
from probabilities to utter impossibilities of salvation. 
Death will cut off all your hopes and expectations of mercy 
for ever. Job 27 : 8. There is no coming back to amend 
what hath been done amiss here ; and there is no work nor 
device in the grave, whither you go. As the tree falls, so 
it will lie, through all eternity. 



38 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



2. I come now to give some advices, in order to the 
right preparation for death. 

(1 .) Set about self-examination work. Inquire whethei 
you are in Christ or not — whether you are yet far off from 
God ; or have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. 
And see that you be impartial in this search, and willing 
to find out the truth on this important question. Be not 
foolishly tender of yourself, and apt to believe that you are 
safe, when it is not so ; for in this way, thousands do ruin 
themselves. But be earnest to know the worst of your 
case, and thoroughly to understand your soul's danger, that 
you may be moved to take the right way to escape it. 
Wherefore take a view of the marks of Christless and 
unconverted persons laid down in God's word, and judge 
yourself by them ; and consider also the signs of true grace 
there recorded, and see whether they are applicable to you 
or not. 

(2.) If, after inquiry, you find your state is bad — that you 
have been a lover of the world more than of God, have 
minded your body more than your soul, have lived in the 
neglect of precious Christ, and allowed yourself in known . 
sin, 0 then be convinced of your inability to help yourself, 
and your need of Christ to help you. Labor to be deeply 
humbled before God, under a sense of your sin and folly. 
" Ah, how foolishly, how rebelliously, how unthankfully 
have I lived ! I have abused God's mercies, and left undone 
the work for which I was made and preserved, and enjoyed 
the gospel. Oh, I had all my time given me, to make 
preparation for eternity, and I have never minded it till 
now that sickness, the harbinger of death, is come upon me ; 
and now what shall I do to be saved?" Then, in order to 
convince and humble you the more, cast back your eyes 
upon the sins of your nature, and of your past life ; view 
them in their nature, number, aggravations, and deservings. 
0, do not so many years' sins need a very deep humiliation ? 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



39 



0, do you not stand greatly in need of such a person as 
Christ, to be your Saviour and Ransomer from such a vast 
number of sins ? 0, but their weight will press you eter- 
nally down to the lowest hell, if left to yourself with them 
upon your head. 

(3.) 0, sinner, art thou deeply humbled, and desirous of 
mercy upon any terms ? Believe then that thy case is not 
remediless, but that there is a sacrifice provided for your 
sins, and an able and all-sufficient Saviour offered to you. 
Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and 
became flesh to be a surety for you ; that he is both able 
and willing to save to the uttermost all that come unto God 
by him. Though your sins, your danger, and your fears 
were never so great, yet he is able and willing to save. 0, 
flee to this refuge city, whose gates are open to receive you. 
Trust your souls upon Christ's sacrifice and meritorious 
blood for mercy and salvation. Apply humbly to him, that 
he may teach you the will of God, reconcile you to his- 
Father, pardon your sins, renew you by his Spirit, and save 
you from eternal wrath. 

(4.) Give yourself up to God in Christ, by way of cove- 
nant and solemn resignation. ^ * Give, a cordial and vol- 
untary consent to the covenant of grace. Acquiesce cheer- 
fully in the gospel way of salvation through Christ and his 
righteousness, and accept of God in Christ as thy portion. 
Make choice of God the Father, as thy reconciled Father in 
Christ; and God the Son, as thy Redeemer "and Saviour; 
and God the Holy Ghost, as thy sanctifier, guide, and com- 
forter. And likewise give up thyself, soul and body, and 
all that thou hast, to be the Lord's; engaging, in Christ's 
strength, to live for God, and walk with him in newness 
of life. And study to do all this deliberately, unfeignedly, 
and cheerfully. Though perhaps you have done this hyp- 
ocritically, at former times ; though you have profaned 
God's covenant, and behaved unsteadfastly and perfidiously 



40 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



therein, yet now endeavor to be sincere with God foi 
once. 

(5.) Live daily in the exercise of faith and repentance: 
renew the acts thereof frequently, in proportion to your 
renewed sins and guiltiness. Cleave close to glorious Christ, 
your high-priest and surety, and be ever washing in his 
blood. As long as you are in the world, you will have need 
to wash your feet. John 13 : 10. Come death when it 
will, let it find you at the fountain, always looking to and 
making use of Jesus Christ. You have great need of Christ 
every day of your life, more especially in sickness, but most 
of all at a dying hour. 0 what need will you have of 
Christ as an advocate with God, when the question is to be 
determined where your mansion is to be assigned through 
all eternity, whether in heaven or hell. 0 then, be looking 
always to Christ, with the eye of faith. Live in the constant 
thoughts of this blessed Mediator. Let him be first in your 
thoughts in the morning, and last in your thoughts at 
night. 

(6.) Strive to mortify every sin and lust, both outward 
and inward. Die to sin daily, that so you may not die foi 
sin eternally. 0 that sin may be daily losing its strength 
and dying in you, so that it may be certainly dead before 
you. Pray earnestly that your sins may die before you die ; 
for if they die not before you, but outlive the dying body, 
they will live eternally to sting and torment the never-dying 
soul. 

Direction 4. Be not anxious for recovery to health, but leave 
the issue of your present sickness to the will and pleasure of 
the infinitely wise God. 

Remember, 0 man, thou art the clay and God is the 
potter ; he is absolute Lord of thy life and times : therefore 
learn to adore his sovereignty over thee and all thy enjoy- 
ments. David did so, when he said, " Lord, my times are 
in the hand." Psalm 31 : 15. And. indeed they pare only 



G-ENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



41 



best in his hand, for he best knows how to dispose of them. 
The prophet saith, " The Lord is a God of judgment; blessed 
are all they that wait for him." Isa. 30 : 18, Judgment 
there signifies wisdom. The Lord is a God of wisdom, and 
will order and time all things well ; and therefore it becomes 
us quietly to wait for his pleasure, saying, " The will of the 
Lord be done." It is taken notice of as a great sin in the 
Israelites, that they waited not for his counsel, but limited 
the Holy One of Israel. Psalm 78 :41. What an unac- 
countable folly and presumption is it, for the worms of the 
earth to seek to stint and limit the Sovereign of heaven to 
their measures ! It becomes us at all times, but especially 
in sickness and affliction, to have low, submissive thoughts 
of ourselves, and high, exalted thoughts of God's sovereignty, 
such as Nebuchadnezzar had : "And all the inhabitants of the 
earth are reputed as nothing ; and he doeth according to his 
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth : and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What 
doest thou ?" Dan. 4:35. We should therefore refer all to 
his wise determination, and be willing to die or live, as he 
shall be pleased to appoint. .1 remember, to have read of a 
godly woman who, in her sickness, being asked whether she 
was most desirous to die or to live; answered, " I have no 
choice in that matter, but refer myself to the will of God." 
"But," said the other, " suppose God should refer it to you 
whether to die or to live; which would you choose?" "If 
God," replied she, "should refer it to me, I would even refer 
it back again to him." It becomes thee, 0 man, to be 
entirely resigned to the will of thy Maker, and to stand like 
a sentinel in thy station, ready to move as thy great Gene- 
ral and Commander shall give order concerning thee. It 
would be pleasant and acceptable to God, to see thee more 
desirous to be delivered from sin, than from sickness. Sin 
is a far worse disease than any sickness in the world; beg 
importunately that the great Physician may cure thiswoful 



42 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



soul-disease, and let him do with the body what he pleaseth 
This was David's practice in his affliction : " Look upon 
my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins." Psa. 
25 : 18. As for his pains and afflictions, he asks no more 
but that God would look upon them, and do with them as 
he thought fit ; but as for his sins, no less will satisfy him 
than a pardon, and blotting them entirely out, so that they 
might be remembered no more. 

Direction 5. Bind yourself with holy purposes and resolu- 
tions, in Christ's strength, to be more watchful against sin, 
more diligent in duty, and to improve the time of health better, 
if God shall be pleased to restore it again to you. 

When God is visiting your iniquities with rods, and 
pleading a controversy with you for your omissions and 
slackness in duty, he expects that you will return from 
your backslidings, and set about a serious reformation and 
change of life. " I will go, and return to my place, till they 
acknowledge their offence, and seek my face : in their afflic- 
tion they will seek me early." Hosea 5 : 15. See then 
that you open your ear to discipline ; study to answer God's 
call and expectation, and in his strength resolve to enter 
upon a new life. " Surely now it is meet to be said unto 
God, I have borne chastisement. I will not offend any 
more. That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have 
done iniquity, I will do so no more." Job 34 : 31, 32. Now 
is the season you should say Avith Ephraim, "What have I 
to do any more with idols ?" Hosea 14 : 8. 

Having duly examined yourself, and searched out your 
sins, you ought to put a bill of divorce into the hands of 
every one. Deliberately resolve against all your sins, whether 
secret or open ; and especially resolve against your darling 
and beloved sins, -the sins which do most easily beset you. 
Resolve also against all temptations to sin, and particularly 
against the snares of bad company, whereby you have been 
formerly enticed; say now with David, "Depart from me, 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



4r> 



ye evil-doers; for I v/ill keep the commandments of my 
God." Psa. 119 : 115. 

You must not only purpose to forsake all sin, but also to 
mind every known duty ; that you will make religion your 
one thing" needful, and the pleasing of God the chief busi- 
ness of your life ; that you will set the Lord always before 
you, give him your heart in all duties, aim at nearness and 
communion with God in every one of them, and press forward 
to the full enjoyment of God in heaven through eternity. 

Hesolve also, through grace, that you will in a special 
manner mind secret duties, which the eyes of men do not 
observe, and those duties which conscience doth most chal- 
lenge you for neglecting. And you that are heads of families, 
resolve to make more conscience of family religion, of wor- 
shipping God with your families, both morning and evening ; 
instructing your children and servants in the knowledge of 
Christ ; and recommending religion and godliness to all about 
you, whether relations or strangers. 

And if you would have, your resolutions effectual, see that 
they be accompanied with a deep sense of your insufficiency 
to perform them in your own strength. Bear always in mind 
the corruption and deceitfulness of your own heart, and make 
all your resolutions in humble dependence on the sufficiency 
of Jesus Christ your Surety. Observe the apostle Paul's 
advice to his son Timothy : "Be strong in the grace that is 
in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 2:1. All your stock, 0 believer, 
is in his hand, so that without him you can do nothing; 
but, through Christ strengthening you, you are able to do 
all things. 

Direction 6. Set your house in order, by making your will, 
and settling your domestic and secular affairs, while you 
have freedom and capacity for doing it. 

After the heart is set in order, the next work is to set your 
house in order, according to God's counsel to Hezekiah, Isa. 



44 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



38:1. It is recorded of the patriarch Abraham, that he was 
careful to settle the affairs of his family before his death. 
Gen. 25 : 5, 6. He disposed of his estate to Isaac, and leg- 
acies to the sons of his concubines. It is too general a fault, 
that men delay and put off making their wills, as they do 
their repentance, to the very last, and so too frequently never 
make them'at all. Consider the evil of deferring or neglect- 
ing this necessary affair ; for if you, upon whom God hath 
bestowed means, shall die intestate, your estate may descend 
otherwise than you intended ; much of it may be spent in 
tedious and expensive lawsuits ; such differences may fall 
out among relations, who should live in friendship and mutual 
affection, as cannot be healed ; some of them may be reduced 
to extreme want, when a small legacy might have put them 
in the way of a living : and many such inconveniences may 
follow. Now, if your neglect should bring on these evils, and 
involve your posterity in endless strifes and contentions, may 
you not justly fear that the guilt thereof will pursue you into 
another world, whose wretched carelessness was the occasion 
of all that mischief? 

Pray, wriat is the reason that men put off this duty ? If 
it not because they do not incline to think so seriously on death, 
as this will occasion them to do ? Doth not this neglect savor 
of abominable earthly-mindedness, as if a man desired all his 
portion in this life, and cared not for a better. ; and that he 
is so far from preparing for death, that he cannot endure to 
think of it ? Alas, that this worldly disposition should so far 
prevail among us. But surely there is no wise man will say 
that the putting off the thoughts of death will keep death at 
the greater distance ; or that preparing for death and making 
our wills will bring on death the sooner. 

It were surely best to arrange our affairs in good time ; 
yea, do it in time of health, rather than delay it unto a sick- 
bed, or a death-bed ; for either you may be snatched oft 
suddenly, and have no time for it; or you may be taken 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



45 



with such a disease as shall seize your tongue, so that you 
cannot express your mind ; or seize your understanding, so 
that you cannot rationally dispose of your effects. And though 
none of these should happen, yet certainly it proves a great 
disturbance to a dying man, to be casting up, ordering, and 
settling the affairs of his family, when he should be securing 
a heavenly mansion for his soul and clearing up his evidences 
thereto. It is great wisdom to attend to this affair hi time, . 
that you may have as little to do with the world as may be, 
and that all occasions of distraction to your immortal soul 
may be prevented, when it is near to its entering into an 
eternal and unchangeable state. 

Moreover, in settling your secular affairs, observe these 
following advices : 

1. Make your wills cheerfully, and freely lay down what- 
ever you enjoy, when God calls you to it. Praise God that 
you had these things while you needed them ; and when you 
have no longer use for them, leave them without repining to 
those that come after you. Look not back to Egypt, when 
you are upon the border of Canaan. 

2. See that you deal justly, in providing for your family, 
paying all your just debts, and making restitution if you 
have wronged any. Abhor all designs of defrauding any of 
your lawful creditors, for if your last act should be unjust, 
you leave a blot upon your name here ; and since you cannot 
repent of this wickedness, it being among your last deeds, you 
expose yourself to a fearful doom in the world whither you 
are going. 

3. Irr settling your estate, see that God and good uses be 
not forgotten nor left out. When you are leaving the world, 
and can glorify God no longer here by your words or actions, 
see that you honor the Lord with your substance, by leaving 
some part thereof to pious and charitable uses. It is a work 
of charity to give for maintaining the bodies of the poor, and 
especially the poor of God's people, who belong to his family. 



46 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



But it is much, more pious and charitable to leave some- 
what for propagating Christian knowledge in dark places, 
for educating poor children to read the Scriptures, and in 
structing ignorant souls in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 
It is much to be lamented that so many rich men 
among us die, and leave but little to such pious uses. 
The liberality of papists on their death-beds, may give a 
sharp challenge to many professed Protestants. 0 what a 
shame it is to the professors of the doctrine of grace, that 
the false doctrines of merit and purgatory should produce so 
many donations and mortifications among the papists, and 
the faith of Christ's most glorious gospel should not do the 
like among true believers ! Shall the proud conceit of merit, 
and the imaginary fear of purgatory, prompt men to do more 
this way, than the certain persuasion of the love of God in 
Christ, and the well-grounded hope of eternal life through 
the alone merits of Jesus Christ? 0 what a reproach is 
this to our holy religion ! 

4. It might be much to the glory of God and the good of 
souls, that our wills should contain many solemn charges and 
exhortations and blessings to our children, or those to whom 
we bequeath any legacy ; so that they could never open our 
wills, but they might see something adapted to make impres- 
sions on their souls, for their spiritual edification, and for 
quickening them to the diligent practice of both family and 
personal godliness. 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS 



47 



CHAPTER II. 

PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO ARE SHARPLY 
AFFLICTED WITH SICKNESS, OR LONG TROUBLE. 

Direction 1 . Justify God in the greatest afflictions which "befall 
you. 

Though God should condemn you, see that you acquit 
him, and say he is righteous in all his dealings. When the 
church was under the heaviest distress, she found cause to 
justify God. "The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled 
against his commandment." Lam. 1 : 18. So doth godly 
Nehemiah: "Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought 
upon us ; for thou hast done right, but we have done wick- 
edly." Neh. 9 : 33. The same doth holy David acknow- 
ledge: "I know, 0 Lord, that thy judgments are right, and 
that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me." Psa. 119 : 75. 
Now, in order to bring you to this agreeable frame, and to 
convince you of the equity and justice of God in his dispen- 
sations, however heavy and long your distress be, I shall lay 
before you the following considerations. 

1. Consider the infinitely holy and righteous nature of 
that God who smiteth thee. " Bighteous art thou, 0 Lord, 
and upright are thy judgments." Psa. 129 : 137. "We pre- 
sume it of a righteous man, that he will do righteous things ; 
and shall we not much more believe so of a holy and righteous 
God ? We cannot be infallibly certain that a righteous man 
will always do so, because a righteous man may leave his 
righteousness, for the creature is mutable : but God is immu- 
tably righteous; so that we maybe confident that the Judge 
of all the earth will do right, for it is impossible he can do 
otherwise. "The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will 
not do iniquity." Zeph. 3:5. He will not, he cannot ; for 
it is contrary to his nature. 

2 Consider that God never brings on any affliction 



48 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



without a cause. "For this cause many are sick." 1 Cor. 
11:30. He hath just ground for the heaviest affliction, from 
thy sins and provocations, and may always say to thee, as to 
Israel, " Hast thou not procured this unto thyself hi that thou 
hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the 
way? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy 
backslidings shall reprove thee ; know therefore and see that 
it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord." 
Jer. 2 : 17, 19. There is still ground enough for affliction to 
be found in the best of God's people ; and therefore it is said, 
" He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of 
men." Lam. 3 : 33. No, it is our sins that oblige him to it. 
As Christ whipped the sellers of oxen and sheep out of the 
temple, with a whip, as is generally thought, made of their 
own cords ; so God never scourgeth us but with a whip made 
of our own sins. "His own iniquities shall take the wicked 
himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins." 
Prov. 5 : 22. If we consider the mighty God as a Lord dis- 
pensing grace, then we find he acts sovereignly, and accord- 
ing to his will and pleasure. "*Even so, Father, for so it 
seemed good in thy sight." Matt. 11 : 26. But if we con- 
sider him as a Judge dispensing judgments, he never doth 
it without a previous cause on the creature's part. God's 
treasure of mercy is always full, and ready to be let out to 
them that seek it; but his treasure of wrath is empty till 
men fill it by their sins. " Thou treasurest up unto thyself 
wrath against the day of wrath." Rom. 2 : 5. We always 
provide fuel for God's wrath before it kindles and breaks out 
upon us. 

3. Consider farther this instance of God's equity, that 
when there is a cause given, God doth not instantly punish, 
but continues to threaten oft and warn long, before he exe- 
cutes the sentence of his word. He sends light strokes as 
warnings of heavier, if we repent not ; and he repeats his 
warnings many times, both by his word and providence, 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 49 

before he smites. Yea, even when repeated warnings are 
slighted, he delays a long time, and waits to be gracious. 
Isa. 30 : 18. And when men's obstinacy and incorrigible- 
ness arrive to such a height that he can spare no longer, yet 
how loath is he to give them up to severe judgments. " How 
shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How shall I deliver thee, 
Israel ? How shall I make thee as Admah ? How shall I 
set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me, my 
repentings are kindled together." Hos. 11:8 When the 
Lord hath sinners in his hand, ready to give them up to 
severe judgments, yet he makes a stand and would fain be 
prevented before he proceed to his "strange work;" for so 
he calls his acts of judgment. Isa. 28 : 21. Acts of mercy 
are conatural, most agreeable, and pleasant to God. " He 
delighteth in mercy," Micah 7:18; but judgment is his 
strange act, and his strange work. 

4. Consider, that when at last he sends strokes on us, they 
are always short of the cause ; he exacts not the debt that 
sinners owe to his justice, as Ezra doth acknowledge : " Thou 
hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve." Ezra 
9:13. The stroke he there is speaking of, was a most heavy 
judgment : fearful ruin and desolation came upon Jerusalem 
and the whole land of Judah; the city and temple were 
burnt to ashes, the people carried captive to a strange land 
and treated as bondslaves among the heathen ; yet the holy 
man saith, " Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities 
deserve." As if he had said, "It is true we have been car- 
ried to Babylon, but in justice we might have been sent to 
hell ; our houses were burnt, but our bodies might have been 
burnt too ; we have been drinking water, but we might have 
been drinking blood ; we have had grievous burdens on earth, 
but we might have been groaning in hell ; we were banished 
from the temple, but we might have been eternally banished 
from God's presence." We think it a great favor among 
men when any punishment is mitigated, when the sentence 

Aff. Man's Comp. 3 



50 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

of death is changed into banishment, or when banishment is 
turned into a" fine, or a great fine is made smaller; and will 
you think that God deals severely or rigorously with you in 
laying you on a sick bed, when he might justly have laid you 
in hell and poured out all his wrath upon you there ? You 
but taste of the brim of the cup, when God might cause you 
to drink of the very dregs thereof. 

Have you not cause then to acknowledge God's justice, 
nay, even his mercy too, in his dealings with you, however 
rough they seem to be ? May you not with good reason say, 
Any thing less than hell is a mercy to such an ill-deserving 
creature as I am ? If even a hard-hearted Pharaoh, under 
distress, went so far as to own the justice of God, " I have 
sinned, the Lord is righteous," Exod. 9 : 27 ; shall any pro- 
fessed Christian fall short of that obstinate Egyptian ? 

Direction 2. Labor to be sensible of God's hand under heavy 
affliction, and beware of stupidity and unconcern under it. 

It is a sin to faint under heavy affliction, but it is a duty 
to feel it. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the 
Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Heb. 12 : 5. 
The apostle there cautions us against two extremes, which 
every Christian under the rod should be careful to avoid : 
these are, despising or making light of affliction, and sinking 
or desponding under it. We are in great hazard of running 
unto the one or the other. We may be said to despise the 
chastening of the Lord when we do not observe God's hand 
in our affliction, so as to abandon the things whereby he is 
displeased ; or when we resolve to abide the trial by the 
strength of our own resolution and stout-heartedness, without 
looking to God for supporting grace ; or when we turn stupid 
and insensible under the heavy and long-continued rod. This 
despising and slighting of the rod is not patience, but stupicl- 
ky : it is not Christian magnanimity, but a stoical temper of 
mind, most sinful and provoking to God. We see how angry 
God is with sinners when his strokes are not felt. " He hatb 



"particular directions. 



51 



poured upon him the fury of his anger, and it hath set him 
on fire -round about, yet he knew it not; and it hath burned 
him, yet he laid it not to heart." Isa. 42 : 25. " Thou 
hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast 
consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction : 
they have made their faces harder than a rock ; they have 
refused to return." Jer. 5:3. There is little hope of a 
scholar's minding his lesson, that is regardless of whipping. 
It is a dreadful sign to be like Pharaoh, sleeping in our sins 
when God is thundering in his wrath. He that will sleep 
when his house is on fire, or lie still in bed, as if he was not 
concerned, may assuredly expect to be consumed in its flames. 
As David could not bear it, when the messengers he sent to 
the Ammonites out of good will, were affronted and despised ; 
neither will God endure it, when the messengers he sends to 
sinners are slighted ; for he that slights a messenger, affronts 
his master. Those who make light of affliction, make light 
of God who sends it, and of sin that procures it. 

Men are suitably concerned under a heavy rod, when they 
see God's hand, hear God's voice, are anxious to know his 
mind, desirous to do those things he requires, and forsake 
those things he is displeased with. Remember, every afflic- 
tion is a messenger from God, and deserves a hearing from 
you. It comes to thee with such a message as Ehud did to 
Eglon: "I have a message from God unto thee, 0 king." 
Judges 3 : 20. I have a message from God to thee, 0 Chris- 
tian, 0 sinner. Well, lend an ear, and hearken with rever- 
ence and attention to this errand : say, " Speak, Lord, for 
thy servant heareth ; what wouldst thou have me do ?" 
Believe it that God speaks as really to you by his rod, as by 
his word; therefore he says, "Hear ye the rod." God spake 
as truly by his ten plagues to Egypt, as he did by his ten 
precepts to Israel. And if the calm voice of the word were 
more regarded, we should hear less of the rough voice of the 
rod. As Gideon took briers and thorns of the wilderness, 



52 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



and with them taught the men of Succoth, who would not 
be taught by fairer means, Judges 8:16; so God takes the 
sharp prickles of sore afflictions to teach you his statutes, 
when you will not be taught by softer methods. Beware 
then of grieving God's Spirit, by turning stupid and insen- 
sible under sharp or long- continued trials ; but the more pains 
God takes with you by his rod, hearken the more carefully 
to his voice, and labor to make the greater proficiency in the 
school of affliction, where he thinks fit to continue you, that 
so you may inherit this blessing : " Blessed is the man whom 
thou chastenest, 0 Lord, and teachest him out of thy law." 
Psa. 94:12. 

Direction *3. Beware of misconstruing God's dealings towards 
you, and of charging him foolishly. 
We are apt to believe Satan's suggestions under heavy 
trials, and to entertain wrong thoughts of God and his dis- 
pensations. Now these you ought to guard against. For 
instance, 

1 . Beware of harboring atheistical thoughts, as if there 
were no Providence, no wise Governor of this lower world, 
no distinction between the good and the bad ; and that it is 
to no purpose to be religious, like those mentioned in Mai. 
3 : 14 : "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what 
profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and walked 
mournfully before the Lord of hosts ?"' Yea, even the 
psalmist, when he begins to compare his own sharp trials 
with the ease and prosperity of the wicked, is tempted to 
think all religion in vain, and say, "Verily I have cleansed 
my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For 
all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every 
morning." Psa. 73 : 13, 14. But these are nothing but the 
hellish suggestions of Satan, that irreconcilable enemy of God 
and precious souls, against which we should closely stop our 
ears. 

2. Beware of charging God in your hearts with rigor or 



PARTICULAR 



DIRECTIONS. 



53 



injustice in his dealings, like those reproved in Ezek. 18 : 25: 
"Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal." How 
highly unjust and injurious are such thoughts to him who is 
the Judge of all the earth, and cannot but do right ! 

3. Beware of thinking that heavy afflictions always 
speak wrath in God against thee. No ; sometimes they 
speak forth love, and God may be carrying on a love-iesign 
thereby to -thy soul, namely, to subdue thy strong lusts, and 
draw thee nearer unto himself. As for those who think that 
the smarting rod and divine love cannot dwell together, let 
them read that passage, " And ye have forgotten the exhor- 
tation that speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, 
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when 
thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he 
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 
Heb. 12 : 5, 6. 

4. Beware of desponding and distrustful thoughts of 
God, under sharp afflictions. Some are ready to raze the. 
foundation, quit their interest in God and the promises, and 
cast away their hope and confidence, saying with Gideon, 
" Oh, my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then has all this 
evil befallen us ?" Judges 6 : 13. So David was ready to 
draw a hasty conclusion: "I said in my haste, I am cut of! 
from before thine eyes." Psalm 31 : 22. But this was the 
effect of " unbelief; for he that believeth will not make 
haste. 

Direction 4. Under sore trouble and distress, labor to exercise 
a strong and lively faith. 
It was a noble and heroic resolution in that holy man 
Job,. under his singular trials, "Though he slay me, yet I 
will trust in him." Job 13 : 15. Let his strokes be never 
so sore and heavy, yet I will not let go my hold of his word 
and promises ; I will not raze these foundations of my hope. 
It was in this way the psalmist kept himself from sinking 
under his heavy burdens: "I had fainted unless I had 



54 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the 
living." Psa. 27 : 13. Consider but a little the noble influ- 
ence that faith hath to strengthen and support the -soul 
under sore trials : 

b Faith grasps the great gospel promise of salvation in 
and through Jesus Christ, and so secures the soul's main 
interest through eternity ; which may make the soul happy 
in every lot. 

2. Faith views God in Christ at the helm in the great- 
est storm, and so the believer endures " as seeing Him who 
is invisible." Heb. 11 : 27. 

3. Faith casts the soufs anchor on the Rock of ages, and 
stays itself on God and the faithful promises, whereby the 
soul is eased and disburdened of its fears and melancholy 
apprehensions. Psa. 22 : 4; Isa. 50 : 10. 

4. Faith brings new strength and auxiliary supplies of 
grace from heaven, when the former supply is exhausted and 
spent ; whereof David had the sweet experience. Psa. 27 : 13. 
As God doth plant and actuate grace in the soul, so he is 
pleased to come in with seasonahle supplies and reinforce- 
ments to the weak and decayed graces of his people, accord- 
ing to their present exigencies ; and thus he doth from time 
to time feed the believer's lamp with fresh oil, bestowing 
more faith, more love, more hope, and more desire ; and 
hereby he gives more power to the faint, and strengthens 
the things which remain, when ready to die. 

5. Faith keeps the soul from sinking under heavy trials, 
by bringing in former experiences of the power, mercy, and 
faithfulness of God to the afflicted 'soul ; hereby was the 
psalmist supported in distress. Psa. 13 : 6 ; 87 : 4. 0, saith 
faith, remember what God hath done both for thy outward 
and inward man ; he hath not only delivered thy body when 
in trouble, but he hath done great things for thy soul : he 
hath brought thee out of the state of black nature, entered 
into a covenant-relation with thee, and made his goodness 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 



55 



pass before thee; he hath helped thee to pray, and many 
times hath he heard thy prayers and thy tears. Hath he 
not formerly brought thee out of the horrible pit and out of 
the miry clay, and put a new song in thy mouth, and made 
thee resolve never" to give way to such unbelieving doubts 
and fears again ? And how unbecoming it is for thee now 
to sink in trouble. 

6. Faith supports the soul, by giving it a pleasant view 
and prospect of a happy release from all trouble, when it 
shall be admitted to see and dwell with Christ hereafter. 
Thus was Job supported in his greatest distress. "For I 
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in 
the latter day upon the earth : whom I shall see for myself, 
and mine eyes shall behold." Job 19 : 25, 27. A believing 
view of the soul's meeting with its Redeemer, and receiv- 
ing a crown of glory from him at last, is an excellent support 
to a Christian under the heaviest affliction ; and so was it to 
Paul. 2 Tim. 4:7,8. 

7. Faith gives great support, by the encouraging repre- 
sentations it makes of Christ, and of his present concern for 
the believer while under affliction. For example, 

Faith represents Christ to a believer under trials, as 
sympathizing with him under his distress, feeling his pain, 
hearing his groans, bearing his burdens, and ready to relieve 
him in his own appointed time, which it well becometh Mm 
to wait for. 

Faith represents Christ as putting his almighty arm 
under the believer's head, and conveying invisible strength 
to support and hold him up under his greatest burdens. 

Faith represents Christ as pleading the afflicted believ- 
er's cause with God, and answering all the charges of the 
law, the challenges of conscience, and accusations of Satan 
against him 

Faith represents Christ as standing by the furnace, as a 
refiner where his gold is melting, carefully overseeing the 



56 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



trials of his people, that they may work for their good, and 
ready to bring them out thereof, when they are sufficiently 
purified from their dross. 

Faith represents Christ as smiling on his people under 
the cross, whispering peace into their ears, and saying, 
!i Well done, good and faithful servant." 

Direction 5. Labor to "bear with patience whatever load of 
trouble the Lord appoints for you. 

You will perhaps observe some who are strangers to relig- 
ion, contentedly enduring very painful evils; and this they 
may do by virtue of a natural hardness and resolution which 
some are endowed with, or by the aid of arguments furnish- 
ed by human prudence. This is only patience as a moral 
virtue, which some attain to. But it is patience as a spiritual 
grace, or a fruit of the Spirit, which we must aim at under 
our trials, that we may bear them contentedly from divine 
principles, to divine ends. Now this grace of patience we 
must earnestly beg from God, under heavy afflictions, for it 
is only he that must work it in us ; and therefore he is called 
the God of patience. Horn. 15:5. And in order to your 
attaining of this grace, I shall lay before you the following 
considerations, which may be useful, through the Lord's 
blessing, for that end. 

1. Consider the patience of our Lord Jesus Christ undei 
sufferings inexpressibly greater than yours. When it pleased 
the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief, how patiently 
did he bear all, according to that remarkable word, "He was 
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; 
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep 
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." 
Isa. 53 : 7. Now Christ suffered as an example of patience, 
though it was not his chief end ; and surely all the members 
of the body should study to imitate the head in patience. 
Did your blessed Saviour patiently endure such agonies and 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS, 



burdens of wrath for you ; and will you decline to undergo 
some short pains or sickness in obedience to his command ? 

2. Consider God's sovereignty over you. He is the great 
Potter, and you are his clay ; and why may he not do with 
you as he pleaseth ? If your children offend you, you punish 
them, and perhaps do it sometimes without reason ; yet how 
ill do you take it when they refuse to submit. How will you 
drive and spur your horses under you, and sometimes perhaps 
unreasonably. Yet they bear all quietly, and make no re- 
sistance. Shall they take blows from their master, and will 
not you from your Maker, that has far more power over you ? 
If any challenge you for cruelty to your children or beasts, 
you take it not well, because you think you may do what you 
will with your own and no man hath a right to quarrel with 
you. But hath not God a greater property in you, than you 
in your children or cattle ? And will you not patiently sub- 
mit to your wise and absolute Sovereign ? 

3. Consider thy sins as the just cause of all thy afflictions, 
however heavy they be. If thou hast right thoughts of thy 
sins, and their aggravations, thy mind may be composed to 
a patient submission to God's hand ; if sin be heavy on thee, 
all thy afflictions will be light. Luther gives this as a rea- 
son why he slighted the rage of the pope and emperor, and 
all his outward troubles : " They are all little to me, because 
sin is so weighty on me." Hence it was that Paul com- 
plained not at all of his sufferings, great as they were, but 
he cried out much of his sins : " 0 wretched man that I am, 
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Horn. 
7 : 24. The sense of sin doth swallow up the sense of 
affliction, as the ocean doth little brooks. For with whom 
ehouldst thou quarrel but thyself, when thou bringest 
troubles on thyself? This consideration should bring thee 
to resolve and say with the prophet, " I will bear the indig- 
nation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." 
Micah7:9, 

3* 



58 



AFFLICTED MAST'S COMPANION. 



4. Consider, that however sharp the pains are you are 
called to bear, yet they fall infinitely short of what yon 
have justly deserved, at God's hands. It is of his infinite 
mercy that death and everlasting destruction have not been 
your portion long since, and that you are not now wail- 
ing under the extremity of his indignation in the bottomless 
pit, together with the devil and his angels. And conse- 
quently, whatever falls short of this is truly a great mercy, 
and is so far from being a ground of quarrelling, that the 
greatest sufferer on this side of hell hath just cause ^ to 
admire God's clemency, in dealing more favorably with him 
than he hath deserved. 

5. Compare thy case with others that have been, or now 
are in distress. Do not say there is no one so hardly dealt 
with as thou art, for thou knowest not the affliction of others. 
Consider duly the trials of that eminent saint Job, in all the 
circumstances thereof, and see if you can say that your sor- 
row is near so great as his was. Again, compare your case 
with that of the damned in hell, who lie in endless and 
ceaseless flames, so that they have no rest day nor night, but 
the smoke of their torment ascends for ever ; and think what 
a blessing it is that you are yet in a state of salvation, and 
not delivered over to these everlasting burnings, which were 
the due deserts of your sins, and to which you would long 
ago have been justly condemned, had it not been for the 
patience and long-suffering of Almighty God, who waiteth 
to be gracious to guilty sinners. "When you consider these 
things, instead of being dissatisfied with the divine dispen- 
sations, you have cause to bless God that matters are not 
worse with you, and that you are kept out of hell to this 
day, where thousands, no more guilty than you, are even now 
groaning in endless desperation. 

Unto these considerations I shall subjoin some few helps 
or advices, in ordei to the attaining of patience under sore 
troubles. 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS 



59 



6. Labor to get pardon of sin and peace with God 
secured to thy soul, and this will enable you to bear the 
heaviest cross with patience. Hence it was that Luther 
cried, "Smite, Lord, as thou wilt; I take it all in good part ; 
seeing my sins are pardoned. Oh, pardon of sin is the crown- 
ing blessing, therefore will I bear any thing ; I will swallow 
up quarrelling into admiring ; I will welcome the pruning- 
knife, seeing there is no fear of the bloody axe to fell me 
dowm" 

7. Labor to see God's hand in thy affliction. Do not, 
like the dog, snarl at the stone, but look up to the hand that 
throws it. And surely a view of the hand of a holy God 
may serve to calm all the boisterous waves of thy corruption ; 
so did it with David : ." I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, 
because thou didst it." Psa. 39:9. When he looked to the 
instruments and second causes of his afflictions, his heart 
'waxed hot, and the fire of his inward passion began to burn 
and break out ; but when he once espied God's hand and seal 
to the warrant for his correction, he became silent, and pa- 
tiently submitted to the divine will. 

8. Get a humble and self-denied frame of spirit, that you 
may have low thoughts of yourself, and of all your attain- 
ments whatsoever. A proud man cannot think of submitting 
to the divine will, but will break before he bow. Hence we 
see a vast difference between a proud Pharaoh and an humble 
Eli, under the rod : the one says, "Who is the Lord, that I 
should obey him?" but the other saith, "It is the Lord; let 
him do what seemeth him good." 

9. Get love to Jesus Christ. Love is an enduring prin- 
ciple. 1 Cor. 13 :7. It endureth all things. It makes the 
soul, like the kindly child, draw nearer to Christ, the more 
it is beaten. Interpret God's ways and dealings with you 
always in the best sense ; and be earnest in prayer that God 
may conquer your rebellious will, and subdue those mutinous 
risings of heart within you against himself. 



60 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Direction 6. Beware of envying wicked men, when you see 
them in health and prosperity. 
The psalmist, when he was chastened every morning, and 
in great adversity, fell into this error. "I was envious at the 
foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Psa. 73 : 3. 
Corrupt nature doth strongly incline us to this sinful dispo- 
sition, especially in the day of sore affliction; for "the spirit 
that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." James 4 : 5. But, did 
we rightly consider the state of wicked men, we would see 
greater ground to pity than to envy them in their most pros- 
perous condition. "Why ? " The prosperity of fools shall de- 
stroy them." Prov. 1 :32. It makes them forget God, and 
turn hardened and secure in sin, which hastens their ruin. 
"Who would envy a malefactor's going up a high ladder, and 
being mounted above the rest of the people, when it is only 
for a little, and in order to his being turned over and hanged ? 
This is just the case of wicked men who are mounted up 
high in prosperity ; for it is so only that they may be cast 
down deeper into destruction. "Fret not thyself because of 
evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of 
iniquity ; for they shall soon be cut down like grass." Psa. 
37 : 1, 2. "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when 
all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be 
destroyed for ever." Psa. 92:7. It would be a brutish thing 
to envy an ox his rich pasture, when he is only thereby fitted 
for the day of slaughter. Who would have envied the beasts 
of old the garland and ribbons with which the heathen adorn- 
ed them when they went to be sacrificed ? These external 
ornaments of health, wealth, pleasures, and preferments, with 
which wicked men are endowed, cannot make their state 
happy, nor change their natures to the better. Whatever 
appearance these things make in the eyes of the world, they 
are but like a noisome dunghill covered with scarlet, as vile 
and loathsome in God's sight as ever. How quickly is the 
beauty of earthly things blasted ! " The triumphing of the 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 



61 



wicked is short." Job 20 : 5. " They live in pleasure on the 
earth," for a while ; hut God sets them in slippery places, 
from whence they soon slide into perpetual pain and anguish 
They have a short time of mirth, but they shall have an, 
eternity of mourning. The longer their prosperity is, their 
sins are the greater, and their sufferings will be more griev- 
ous. But, 0 believer, it is in mercy to thee that God doth 
hedge up thy way with thorns, that thou mayest not find thy 
paths ; while he turns the wicked loose, and suffers them to 
stray and wander whither they will, to their eternal ruin. 
God takes this method with you, to make you meet for an 
inheritance, and prepare you for a crown of glory ; but he 
takes a contrary way with the wicked, to fit them for de- 
struction : therefore you ought not to be fretful under his hand, 
but thankful. We read of queen Elizabeth, when she was 
in prison, how she envied the poor milk-maid she saw pass- 
ing by, and would have thought herself happy to have been 
in her condition ; but had that afflicted princess knovm the 
glorious reign of forty-four years she was soon to enter upon, 
she would not have repined at the happiness of so mean a 
person. But 0, afflicted believer, it is not a glorious reign 
for a set number of years, that is provided for thee ; it is 
even a reign with glorious Christ thy Redeemer for ever 
and ever : and hast thou any ground to be discontented or 
envious ? 

Direction 7. Guard against repining and murmuring against 
the providence of God, under heavy sickness and affliction. 

We see that murmurers and complainers are classed with 
those that walk after their ow r n lusts. Jude 16. I know 
the people of God are liable to murmuring and impatience 
also under affliction ; but there is a great difference between 
them and the wicked. I shall have occasion to speak of 
believers' murmurings afterwards, when I come to speak of 
their case in particular; but here I shall handle the sin of 



62 AFFLICTED MAN*S COMPANION. 

murmuring in general, and as it appears mainly in th3 unro 
generate, under heavy affliction. 

This sin of murmuring is the froth of impatience, and 
scum of discontent ; it is first cherished by repining thoughts, 
and then vented by unsuitable complaints and expostulations, 
taxing the administration of providence, as if God dealt too 
hardly with us. Our very thoughts are audible with G od, 
yea, as loud hi his ears as words are in ours ; but it is yet worse 
when repining thoughts are not crushed, but suffered to break 
out into words tending to the dishonor of God. 

Observe here that humble complaints" are not murmur 
ings, nor sinful in themselves ; otherwise there would be no 
room for prayer, and for spreading out our distressed case 
before the Lord. We find God's children making complaints 
in affliction, but then they do not complain of God, but to 
God, with an humble inquiry into the cause and meaning of 
his dispensations, and laying all the blame upon themselves, 
as did Job. "I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will 
speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do 
not condemn me ; show me wherefore thou contendest with 
me." Job 10 : 1, 2. Thus the blessed Son of God himseh 
did. in his distress, when he cried, "My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me?" But" there we may observe, he 
complains to God, not of God; he hath not a hard word or 
thought of God, but expresseth a holy confidence in God : 
"My God, my God;" he hath two words of faith for one 
word of fear ; he humbly inquires into the cause of the dis- 
pensation, and desires to bring up his will to God, not that 
God should bring down his will to him. "If it be possible," 
says he, "let this cup pass;" however, glorify thy name, pro- 
vide for thy own glory, and do with me what thou pleasest. 
in this matter our Lord doth set himself as an example of 
patience to us, teaching us to beware of impatient murmur- 
ing and quarrelling with God's providence in our afflictions, 
which many times we are guilty of, either when we harbor 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 



63 



harsh, thoughts of God's dealings, or break forth into rash 
and unadvised speeches ; when we charge God foolishly, and 
complain either of too much severity, Ezek. 18:2, 25, or of 
too long delay, Isa. 49 : 14, or when our complaints are 
mixed with unbelief and distrust, Psa. 78:19, or when we 
complain more of our punishment than we do of our sin, and 
nothing will satisfy us but deliverance from trouble. 

Now, to deter you from these murmurings and complaints 
in trouble, I shall lay before you the following considera- 
tions : 

1. They who deserve worst commonly complain and 
murmur most, and are most ready to think they are hardly 
dealt with. The unthankful Israelites were always mur- 
muring ; ambitious Absalom was discontented ; bloody Ha- 
inan, in the midst of all his greatness, cries out. " "What doth 
all this avail me ?" But humble Jacob saith he is not 
worthy of the least of all the mercies and truth which God 
had showed him. And holy Job blesses God and patiently 
submits, when he took from him as well as when he gave 
him. 

2. Murmuring is a sin that God takes special notice of, 
and looks upon as an injury and affront done immediately 
against himself. " I have heard the murmurings of the 
children of Israel, which they murmur against me." Num. 
14 : 27. He that gives ear to the "groanings" of his own 
Spirit, doth also hear the grumblings of thine, and will reck- 

• on with thee for them. 

3. It cannot benefit or relieve us in distress. I may say 
of sinful complaining, as Christ did of sinful care, Which of 
you by complaining can add one cubit to his stature ? 
What ease or relief can you get by contending with Gpd ? 
Nay, instead of easing you of your burden, it will make it 
the heavier ; as the more a child struggles with his parents, 
the more he is beaten. The Israelites were once within 
eleven days' journey of Canaan ; but by their murmurings 



64 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



they provoked God to lead them forty years' march in the 
"wilderness before they could reach it. 

4. Whatever be your distress, there is no just ground for 
complaints while thou hast thy life for a prey. Remembei 
that word of the afflicted church, " Wherefore doth a living 
man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" 
Lam. 3 : 39. A man living, a man upon the earth, a man 
out of hell, has no cause to complain, whatever be his afflic- 
tion. For, let him compare his sin and punishment together, 
he will find there is no proportion ; sin is a transgression 
against the infinite God, punishment is but an affliction upon 
the finite creature ; sin strikes at the very being of God, bul 
temporal punishment only at the comfort of the creature. 
So that whatever your punishment be, you have more cause 
to give thanks than to complain, and to say with Ezra, 
"Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve." 
It would have been a thousand times worse if strict justice 
had been the rule. "It is of the Lord's mercies we are not 
consumed." 

5. When you murmur under sickness, you quarrel with 
the messenger of that sovereign God who gave you your life 
and can take it again when he thinks fit ; and we know mes- 
sengers ought not to be maltreated or abused, whatever by 
their commission, and far less when they are sent upon a 
good design. Now, if -you consider the design of this mes- 
senger and his errand to you, instead of fretting and quarrel- 
ing at his coming, you ought rather to bless God that sends 
such a suitable harbinger and forerunner to tell you that 
death is approaching, and that he vouchsafes to take so 
much pains with you to wean you from the world and make 
you willing to be gone by long-continued trouble, when he 
might have seized you in a violent manner and driven you 
away by main force, without using any means to obtain 
your consent. Have not many, who at the beginning of a 
sickness were most unwilling to die, been brought by the in- 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS 



65 



crease and continuance of it to be well satisfied to leave the 
world and long to be with Christ ? And was not this for 
their advantage ? 

6. Consider the great evil and sinfulness of impatient 
murmurings, complaints, and quarrellings under affliction. 

Murmuring hath in it much unbelief and distrust of 
God. "They believed riot his word, but murmured in their 
tents." Psalm 106 : 24, 25. They could not believe that 
the wilderness was the way to Canaan, that God would 
provide and furnish a table for them there, and relieve them 
in all their straits. So it is with us in trouble : we quarrel 
with God's providence because we do not believe his prom- 
ises ; we do not believe that this can be consistent with love, 
or can work for good in the end. 

It hath in it untha?ikfuhiess: While we complain of 
one affliction, we overlook a thousand mercies. The Israel- 
ites murmured so for what they had not, that they unthank- 
fully forgot all they had ; whereas a thankful person is so far 
from fretting that God doth not give him every thing, that 
he wonders that God should give him any thing. " I am 
less than the least of all thy mercies," said Jacob. "We 
are perplexed," said Paul, "but not in despair:" we have 
God to go to, which is matter of praise. But the mur- 
murer unthankfully overlooks all his present, and forgets 
all his former mercies, and gives not God thanks for any 
thing. Because God removes his comforts, his health and 
strength and ease for a time, all the years he formerly en- 
joyed them, though most undeservedly, are quite buried in 
oblivion. 

It implies much 'pride and self-conceit. He that "om* 
plains of God's dealings, secretly applauds his own deserv- 
ings. Only by pride comes contention. When men have a 
conceit of themselves, they pick quarrels with God's provi- 
dence, being apt to think they deserve better treatment at 
his hands , whereas the humble soul is sensible he deserves 



66 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



nothing Dut wrath, and therefore lays his hand on his mouth 
when the Lord afflicts him. 

It involves men in rebellion against God. When God 
strikes men for sin, murmurs fly in his face, and they kick 
against his strokes like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke. 
They in some respect resemble that desperate apostate Jul- 
ian, of whom it is written that he sKot up his darts against 
heaven when he was in distress. They fulfil that word of 
holy writ, " The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and 
his heart fretteth against the Lord." Prov. 19:3. The re- 
pining heart boils with rage against God and his dispensa- 
sions, like those wicked Jews when hungry and distressed : 
"They shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their 
God, and look upward." Isaiah 8 : 21. 

It imports much imvenitency and unhumbledness for 
sin, and that we have seen little of the intrinsic evil of sin, 
and of our ill-deservings for it. Can we truly believe that 
our sins deserve hell-fire, and yet impatiently repine at sick- 
ness and lesser strokes upon our bodies ? 

It includes much atheism and blasphemy against God, 
and his infinite perfections, in several respects. 

By our impatient murmurings, we either virtually deny 
that things here below are governed by God's providence ; or 
else, 

We tax his providence with unrighteousness in the man- 
agements thereof; as if God did withhold from us what is 
due, or inflict on us what we have not deserved. 0, what 
atheism is this ; shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right ? May he not, upon the justest ground, answer every 
murmurer, "Friend, I do thee no wrong?" Matt. 20 : 13. 

We in effect grasp at the sovereignty and usurp the 
throne of the most high God, and would have the disposal 
of things in our hands ; yea, we presume to summon God to 
our bar to give account of his administration, when we take 
upon us to quarrel with any of his dispensations. Alas, we 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 



67 



little remember the woe that is pronounced against so doing : 
" Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker ; shall the clay 
say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou ? or thy 
work, He hath no hands ?" Isa. 45 : 9. 

We on the matter take sin's part against God; we either 
justify it, or extenuate its evil, and allege, by our murmur- 
ings, that God is unrighteous to punish such small sins with 
Tsuch heavy afflictions. 

We virtually question God's power to reach us a gi eater 
blow. When we enter the lists with God, and»contend with 
our Maker, is it not in effect to say, we know how to reduce 
him to our terms, or make our party good against him ? 

We disparage his wisdom, and take upon us to be his 
counsellers, as if we could instruct him better in the man- 
agement of affairs, and teach him what is fit to be done 
with his creatures. Hear what the Lord saith, Job 40 : 2 : 
" Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty, instruct him ? 
He that reproveth God, let him answer it." Murmuring is 
a reproving of God, and a charging him with ill-conduct, 
saying, in effect, with Absalom, "There is none that takes 
care to order men's affairs : 0 that I were king of the 
world ; then should things be better ordered than they now 
are." So blasphemous is the language of our impatient 
murmurings. Let us 'therefore be ashamed of them, and 
abhor ourselves in dust and ashes for our foolishness in cen- 
suring the actions of the only- wise God. Shall a poor igno- 
rant passenger, that understands not the use of the compass, 
be angry that the skilful pilot will not steer the vessel ac- 
cording to his pleasure ? 

We hereby slight and undervalue the riches of divine 
goodness, of which we have formerly shared, and do still 
partake : as foolish and pettish children, if they cannot have 
their will, or get some things they want, do presently throw 
away the things which they have, saying, with unthankful 
Haman, "All this availeth me nothing." 



68 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPAKipN. 

This sin hath some resemblance to hell itself; for there 
the damned do continually vex and torment themselves with 
their fretting and impatient thoughts, which cause them to 
break out in fearful rage and blasphemy against God. 

Question. But how shall we prevent such discontented 
murmurings ? for sometimes trouble is so great we cannot 
bear it patiently. 

Answer. God hath given you reason to bear rule over 
passion, and furnished you with strong arguments to prevail 
against discontent. Why then should you be so brutish as 
to dethrone reason, and suffer sense and passion to govern in 
you ? Are you not Christians, and sworn to live according 
to the rules of the gospel of Christ ? Why then do you act 
so contrary to your profession and engagements ? 

Besides what I have already said, I shall add some few 
remedies more for the cure of this murmuring distemper. 

1. Look on thy murmurings as worse than all thy pains 
and troubles whatsoever ; those are but afflictions from God, 
but these are sins grievous and provoking unto God. 

2. Remember the judgments which murmuring hath 
brought down from heaven upon sinners. Miriam was 
smitten with leprosy for it ; Dathan and Abiram were swal- 
lowed up alive; fiery serpents, plagues and exclusion from 
Canaan, were Israel's judgments for this sin. "Neither 
murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were de- 
stroyed of the destroyer." 1 Cor. 10:10. The arrows 
which murmurers shoot up against heaven quickly return 
upon their own heads. 

3. Whatever thy sufferings are for the present, yet still 
believe thy case might be worse. The troubles that light 

- upon the body are nothing so terrible as those that light 
on the soul. "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Prov. 
18 : 14. They are nothing to what thy innocent Saviour 
suffered upon the cross ; yea, nothing to what some martyrs 
have endured for the truths of the gospel. 



PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS. 



69 



4. Get very low thoughts of yourself, and a deep sense 
of your ill-de servings for sin. 0, should a firebrand of hell 
murmur for temporal afflictions ? 

5. Be employed in examhiing thyself, rather than in 
censuring God. Doth God seem to neglect thee ? say, then, 
Alas, it is most just ; have not I neglected him, and given a 
deaf ear to his calls many a day? 

6. Bear in mind' that these troubles will not last : there 
is a great change near ; they will issue either in life or in 
death. If in life, you will be ashamed you had no more pa- 
tience when sick. If in death, then if you belong to Christ, 
it will give a finishing stroke to all troubles and complaints, 
and heaven will make amends for all. But if you be not 
in Christ, whatever your afflictions be now, troubles a thou- 
sand times worse are abiding you in another world : death 
will turn thy crosses into pure unmixed curses ; and then, 
how gladly wouldst thou return to thy former afflicted state, 
and purchase it at any rate, were there any possibility of such 
a return. You now fly out in a passion, and say you are 
not able to bear what you complain of. But consider, if you 
will not obediently bear God's rods now, you will then bear 
more, whether you will or not ; and God will make you 
able to bear more, when there will never be any hopes of 
relief. 

7. Study to give vent to thy sorrows in a way of prayer 
and praise. An oven stopped, is the more hot within ; but 
the breath of prayer or praise gives ease. If we complained 
more to God, we should complain less of God. What a 
mercy is it that you still have God to go to. Improve the 
privilege, confess your unworthiness, and beg the grace of pa- 
tience and submission out of Christ's full treasures. Praise 
God also for mercies received; and however bad thy case is, 
bless G od you are not in hell ; you are in the laud of hope. 



70 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



CHAPTER III. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS TO THE CHILDREN OF G-OD WHEN 
UNDER SICKNESS, OR ANY OTHER AFFLICTION. 

Direction 1. Let believers especially guard against fainting or 
desponding under God's afflicting hand. 

This is an exhortation which God in a special manner 
directs to his children: " My son, despise thou not the chas- 
tening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." 
Heb. 12:5. There are two extremes mentioned, despising 
and fainting. I have spoken of the first in Chapter II., Di- 
rection 2. It is a duty to feel our affliction, but a sin to 
faint under it. God's people may be said to faint under 
their trials when they sink or despond, or give way to 
fretting or repining under them. In the preceding direc- 
tion, I spoke of the evil of murmuring in general ; here 1 
shall speak of believers' faintings in particular, and inquire 
whence their fainting under affliction doth proceed, bring 
some arguments and helps against this evil, and answer 
some objections of fainting believers. 

I. Whence these faintings in believers proceed. 

1 . They proceed from the grievousness of their affliction 
and the heaviness of their burden, which is ready to amaze 
and" stagger their thoughts, and sink their spirits with fear 
and despondency. Hence did the psalmist complain, "Thou 
hast showed thy people hard things : thou hast made us to 
drink the wine of astonishment." Psalm 60 : 3. "I sink 
in deep mire, where there is no standing ; I am come into 
deep waters, where the floods overflow me." Psalm 69 : 2. 

2. From the smallness of their spiritual strength, and 
particularly the weakness of their faith : "If thou faint in 
the day of adversity, thy strength is small." Prov. 24 : 10. 
Whence was it that Peter fainted and began to sink in the 
waters, but from the weakness of his faith ? Matt 14: 30 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICT [ON. 



71 



31. We know not our strength till it is tried. Sometimes 
we have such a conceit of it, that we think, like Peter, we 
can walk upon a sea of trouble ; hut soon, behold, some sud- 
den blast assaults our confidence, and then we faint, or cry 
out with him, "Help, Lord, or we perish." Peter reckoned 
only upon the sea, he did not think of the boisterous wind ; 
and he looked to dangers more than to the power that was 
to carry him through them. 

3. From their impatience of delay. "When deliverance 
is long in coming, it is not easy to wait God's leisure, and 
to keep the heart from desperate conclusions. " I said in my 
haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes." Psa. 31 : 22. 

4. From the power of Satan's temptations, and furious 
assaults. When Satan is let loose in time of affliction to 
throw in his fiery darts, the believer is ready to faint and 
say, " Will the Lord cast off for ever ; and will he be favor- 
able no more ? Is his mercy clean gone for ever ; doth his 
promise fail for evermore ? Hath God forgotten to be gra- 
cious ? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" 
Psalm 77 : 7-9. 

5'. From their wearisome conflicts with a body of death 
and an ill heart. These, in time of trouble, add affliction 
to the afflicted. 

6. From long and great desertions. When God hides 
his face from the believer in affliction, his soul faints under 
it. "Zion hath said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my 
Lord hath forgotten me." Isa. 49 : 14. 

7. From the consciousness of their guilt and ill-desert 
before God, on account of old sins, abuse of mercies, and not 
walking humbly before God. Affliction doth revive old sins, 
as with Job : " Thou writest bitter things against me, and 
makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth." Job 
13 : 26. His old sins, and the guilt of his youthful follies, 
now revived upon him and sat close to his conscience, which 
occasioned his fainting under his burden. 



72 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



8. Great afflictions frequently cloud believers' graces and 
evidences for heaven, and disclose their corruptions, where- 
by they are made to sink under their trials. They see more 
unbelief, impatience, distrust, and enmity to God in them- 
selves, than they saw before ; they see more of their weak- 
ness of grace, and of their want of faith' and love, than be- 
fore ; whereby they are sometimes tempted to raze the foun- 
dation, and say, all their former attainments were but delu- 
sions, and their professions but hypocrisy. These things 
make afflictions sometimes very heavy and sinking to the 
people of God. 

II. For preventing and helping this evil of fainting un- 
der affliction, let believers consider, 

1 . These heavy trials are all needful for you. Deep wa- 
ters are not more needful to carry a ship into the haven, than 
great afflictions are to carry the vessels of our souls into the 
port of bliss. Strong winds and lightning are frightful, but 
they are necessary to purge the air. One of the sharpest 
calamities that ever befell Israel, was the Babylonish captiv- 
ity : yet even this was in mercy to them ; for the Lord saith, 
" I have sent them out of this place into the land of the 
Chaldeans for their good." Jer. 24 : 5. Strange ! of free- 
men to be made prisoners, and that in a strange land, among 
the heathen — to be removed far from their own houses, 
vineyards, friends, nay, from the temple of God and his ordi- 
nances ; and yet all this for their good ! Why ? They were 
hereby effectually weaned and broken off from their darling 
sin of idolatry. 

2. Consider that your affliction, however heavy it be, 
will soon have an end. "For I will not contend for ever, 
neither will I be always wroth ; for the spirit should fail 
before me, and the souls which I have made." Isa. 57 : 16. 
The goldsmith will not let his gold lie longer in the furnace 
than until it is purified. The wicked have a sea of wrath 
to drink ; but, 0 drooping believer, take comfort, you have 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



73 



but a cup of affliction, which will soon be exhausted.. The 
time is near when all thy trials shall have an end : in 
heaven there is no cross, no complaint, no tears nor sorrows 
for ever. 

3. Faint not, 0 child of God, for these afflictions are all 
the hell which thou shalt have ; thou hast nothing to fear 
hereafter. Judas had two hells, one in time, by terror in 
his conscience, another after this life, which shall endure to 
eternity ; but all the hell that a believer hath is but this 
light affliction, which is but for a moment. 

4. Desponding or murmuring in affliction is evil in any, 
but in none is it so bad as in the children of God. It doth 
very ill become their covenants, their privileges, their hopes. 
Have they resigned arid given up themselves and all they 
have to God by a solemn covenant, and will they fret when 
he disposeth of them? Didst thou not say, 0 believer, in 
the day when thy heart was stung with sin, and the terrors 
of God made thee afraid, 0 let me have Jesus Christ for my 
Saviour and. portion, and I will be content, though I should 
be stricken with boils like Job, or beg my bread like Laza- 
rus. Now, God tries thee if thou wilt stand to thy word : 
0 beware of retracting. Hath not that soul enough, who 
hath an all-sufficient God for his portion ? If God be thine 
in covenant, that comprehends all things. 

0. It doth discompose and unfit the soul for any duty. It 
is ill sailing in a storm ; so it is ill praying when the heart 
is in a storm of disquiet and despondency 

6. Your fainting under affliction, and acting as if the 
consolations of God were small, is enough to stumble others 
at religion, and make them call the truth of it in question. 
When they see those fainting that profess religion, and have 
often declared that their rejoicing is in Christ Jesus as their 
portion, 0 may they not be tempted to say, " "Where is the 
truth of religion ? Where are those divine supports and con- 
eolations we have often heard of?" 

Affl. M*n\ C>mp. 4 



74 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



7. .0 then seek to get faith revived and strengthened, 
and resolve with Job to trust in God, though he should slay 
you. This would be of noble use to keep the heart from 
sinking under the pressure of affliction, as the psalmist found 
it to his sweet experience : "I had fainted, unless I had be- 
lieved to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the liv- 
ing." Psa. 27 : 13. 

III. I come to answer some objections or excuses of faint- 
ing believers, which, they commonly allege as the ground of 
their discouragement in their afflictions. 

Objection 1. 0, saith one, my afflictions are not ordinary ; 
they are sore burdens I lie under, and of various kinds too. 

Answer 1. 0 believer, God hath taken the ordering of 
your lot in his own hand, and he knows what is fittest for 
you. Should a man be left to carve out his own portion, it 
would soon appear he would be his own greatest enemy. 
We would all be for the dainties of pleasure and prosperity, 
which would not be for our soul's health — as children think 
green fruit the best diet, because it pleases their taste : but 
their parents are wiser to keep it from them. 

2. God may see you have many and strong lusts to be 
subdued, and that you need many and sore afflictions to bring 
them down. Your pride and obstinacy of heart may be 
strong, your distempers deeply rooted, and therefore the med- 
icine must be proportioned to them, as with the Israelites : 
" Because they rebelled against the words of God, and con- 
temned the counsels of the Most High, therefore he brought 
down their heart with labor.'" Psa. 107:11, 12. 0 be- 
liever, your God and Father, that hath the mixing of your 
cup and portion, is a wise and skilful Physician, who knows 
your constitution and your need. " If need be, you are in 
heaviness through manifold temptations." 1 Pet. 1 : 6. And 
as he knows your need, so he understands your strength. 
" God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above 
that ye are able." 1 Cor. 10:13. 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



75 



3. God sends great and sore troubles, that you may have 
the more experience of his wisdom and mercy in your sup- 
port and deliverance : " Thou which hast showed me great 
and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring 
me up again from the depths of the earth." Psa. 71 : 20. 

Objection 2. Bat, saith another, my affliction is singu- 
lar, there was never any in my condition. 

Answer. 1. It is very common for a man in great dis- 
tress to reckon his case singular, because he feels best what 
is nearest to himself, but is a stranger to what his neigh- 
bor feels. 

2. This suggestion is one of Satan's devices, that he may 
tempt the child of God to question his Father's love ; but he 
is a liar, and not to be credited in what he saith ; for others 
of your brethren have been afflicted in the same kind and 
degree, if not worse : " Knowing that the same afflictions 
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." 
1 Pet. 5:9. 

3. "Whatever your case be, you must own your sufferings 
are not so great as your sins. The trials of God's people 
in Babylon were singular ; yet Ezra owns, " Thou hast pun- 
ished us less than our iniquities deserve." Ezra 9:13. If 
our provoked Judge shall in his clemency send us to Babylon 
instead of hell, we have no cause to complain. 

4. But, 0 child of God, however thou complainest of the 
singularity of affliction now, all such complaints will be 
taken out of thy mouth ere long ; and the time is near when 
thou shalt be made to wonder at the wisdom of God in guid- 
ing so many sons and daughters to glory, through such a 
variety of trials, exercises, afflictions, and temptations ; and 
you shall be made to say, like those in Mark 7 : 37, " He 
hath done all things well." 

Objection 3. But, saith one, my affliction is long con- 
tinued, and I see no way of escape ; and how can I but 
faint under it ? 



76 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Answer 1 . It is not so Jong as your sins deserve : for 
injustice it might be for ever; it might be "the worm that 
never dieth, and the fire that is never quenched." 

2. Your sufferings on earth are not so long as your 
reward in heaven. " For I reckon that the sufferings of this 
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18. 

3. No length or continuance of affliction here should 
hinder a believer's comforts. If we take a view of our head 
and pattern Jesus Christ, how long did his afflictions con- 
tinue ! No end was put to them, till he cried with a loud 
voice, and gave up the ghost. Though he was the Son of 
Grod, yet from the hour of his birth to the moment of his 
death, from his manger to his cross, his afflictions still in- 
creased, and he ended his days in the midst of them. Now, 
Christ is the Head of the church, and your great Represent- 
ative, 0 believers, into a conformity with whom you are 
predestinated ; be content, then, to be like your Head and 
Pattern, and have no ease or rest from afflictions till you lie 
down in the grave. It is " there the wicked cease from 
troubling, and there the weary be at rest." Job 3 : 17. 

4. Remember, that your afflictions are a part of Christ's 
cross, which your loving Redeemer hath contrived for your 
good, and hath appointed you to take up and bear with him. 
Now, love to Christ should keep you from wearying to bear 
a part of Christ's cross, especially when he himself bears the 
heaviest end of it ; nay, bears you and your cross both. It 
is said of Jacob, that "he served seven years for Rachel, 
and they seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had 
to her." Gen. 29 : 20. And shall we not endure a few years' 
affliction for our Lord Jesus Christ, who lived a life of sor- 
rows, and died a cursed death for our sakes ? Had we more 
love to Christ, his cross would not be so irksome to us. 

5. Should it not be good news to thee, that there is a 
deliverance for thee at death from all thy troubles, and that 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 77 

this time is hastening, and very near ? Be not anxious for 
deliverance here in time, for that savors too much of unbe- 
lief and love to the world. Doth it not seem to say, that 
you would be better content to be turned back again to the 
stormy tumultuous sea of this world, than to be safely landed 
at your rest above ; that you would be happier of a few tem- 
poral mercies on earth, than to enter upon your eternal in- 
heritance with Christ ? 

Objection 4. Wo wonder, saith one, that I faint under 
my affliction, for I want those consolations and supports 
which God useth to reserve for afflicted saints. 

Answer 1. If God be now chastening you for your sins, 
you must be content to feel the bitterness of sin, before you 
can taste of the sweetness of God's consolations. 

2. Can you say that your afflictions have duly humbled 
you, and fitted you for comfort ? Have they yet brought 
you to a willingness to quit and renounce all your beloved 
sins, and even to part with all your earthly enjoyments and 
comforts at God's call, and be content with God in Christ 
alone for your happiness and portion ? If this be not done, 
your afflictions have not had their due effect to prepare you 
for comfort, and till then you cannot expect it. You are in 
the hands of a wise and skilful Physician, who will not too 
hastily heal and bind up your sores, so as to let them spoil 
and fester at the bottom. 

3. Though you should have no sensible consolations from 
God in your present trials, yet you must still labor to keep 
in the way of duty, and live by faith on his promises. Be- 
lieve firmly that God is good to them that love him, and 
that there is forgiveness with him for the penitent sinner. 
And if all stars withdraw their light while you are in God's 
way, then assure yourself the sun is near the rising. 

Objection 5. But my affliction is such that it disables 
me from duty, and makes me useless and unprofitable ; and 
this makes me faint under my burden. 



78 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Answer 1. God sends afflictions not to unfit, but to 
quicken you for the performance of duty — to make you re- 
pent more thoroughly, pray more fervently, flee to Christ 
more earnestly, and mind heaven more intensely. 

2. If it he your duty to others that your affliction inca- 
pacitates you for, then remember, if God in his providence 
disable you for that, it is no longer a duty incumbent on you, 
and you must not grudge if God take you off, and put others 
in your room. God is a free and sovereign agent, and will 
be tied to no means or instruments whatsoever for carrying 
on his work. 

Direction 2. Let the children of God be exemplary in patience 
and submission to God under their affliction. 

I treated of patience, and gave some motives and helps 
to it, to all afflicted persons in general, Chapter II., Direction 
5. But here I shall bring some special arguments to Chris- 
tian patience and submission proper for believers. You for 
w T hom God hath d'jne so much beyond others, ought to shine 
in this grace of patience, and be examples to others in it 
when God chastens you, though it be with very sore afflic- 
tion. 

1 . Study patience under affliction ; for it is the common 
path and beaten road to heaven that all the saints have 
trod, who have gone thither before you. Behold the print 
of the footsteps of all the cloud of witnesses in this road ; 
and would you be singular, and choose a way of your own ? 
When God solemnly renewed his covenant with Abraham, 
and he had prepared the sacrifice whereby it was to be rati- 
fied and confirmed, God made a smoking furnace to pass 
between the pieces of the sacrifice, Gen. 15 : 17, to let him 
know that there was a furnace of affliction . attending the 
covenant of grace and peace, and all that entered thereinto. 
God has appointed that all the stones of "this spiritual and 
heavenly building shall be hewed and polished by affliction 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



79 



here ; and we are not to think that God's ordinary way will 
be changed for us. We must not think to walk on roses 
when so many worthies have marched through briers and 
thorns to heaven. 

2. Consider, that the greatest afflictions you meet with are 
consistent with the love of God, nay, spring from his love to 
you. Every sanctified rod is a gift and royal donation sent 
by the hand of God to you. " To you it is given, in behalf of 
Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his 
sake." Phil. 1 : 29. Now surely, if we look on the cross 
as a gift, an honor, an advantage, and blessing, we should 
bear it patiently; " Blessed is the man whom thou chasten- 
est, 0 Lord." Psa. 94 : 12. 0 believer, thy temporal cross 
comes from the same love that thy eternal crown comes 
from, according to Rev. 3 : 19, 21. Men will not take pains 
to correct stubborn servants, but will turn them out of doors ; 
but love constrains them to chastise their sons. God lets 
many a shiner go unpunished in this world ; for why should 
he prune or dress the tree which he will cast into the fire ? 
The malefactor that is condemned to the gallows escapes 
scourging. " The wicked is reserved to the day of destruc- 
tion ; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." 
Job 21-: 30. But it is far otherwise with the children of 
God. That is a strange word which Job hath, chap. 7 : 17, 
18, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him; and 
that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him ; and that thou 
shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every mo- 
ment?" Now, if we compare this place with others in the 
context, we shall see how he acknowledged that the most 
overwhelming distress proceeds from the love and care of 
God, yea, from his fixing his heart on a man, to magnify 
him and do him good ; and that for this end he doth chasten 
him every morning and try him every moment ; and that 
with such afflictions as for the present are so far from being 
joyous, that they give the soul no rest, but even make the 



80 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

man weary of his life — as he expresseth what effect his 
affliction had on himself. Yea, it may he ohserved in the 
providence of God from the foundation of the world, that 
those who have had most affliction, have had most grace 
and the most eminent testimonies of acceptance with God. 
Jesus Christ the Son of God had the most afflictions of any, 
and yet the Father always loved him and was well pleased 
with him. 

3. Consider the bright examples of patience which God 
sets before you in his word. Besides that of his dear Son 
the Lord Jesus Christ, of which I spoke before, consider the 
patience of Job, when he was stript of all earthly comforts, 
and laid under the greatest afflictions : yet, he calmly falls 
down and worships God, and says, "Naked came I out of 
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return : The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God 
foolishly." Job 1:21. Consider the patience of David 
when he was driven from his throne, from his house, and 
from God's sanctuary, and all this by his own son ; yet how 
submissive is he to God : " Behold, here am I ; let him do 
to me as seemeth good unto him." 2 Sam. 15 : 26. And 
when Shimei cursed him and threw stones at him, he pa- 
tiently bore it and would suffer no harm to be done him foi 
it, saying, " Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord 
hath bidden him." 2 Sam. 16 : 11. Consider the patience 
of holy Eli, when, though he heard such news as, like a sud- 
den clap of thunder, made the ears of such as heard it to 
tingle and their hearts to tremble, yet he calmly and quietly 
submitted to it : "It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth 
him good." 1 Sam. 3:18. He doth not fly in God's face 
in a passion, but falls down at his feet in humble submis- 
sion. Observe also the wonderful patience of Aaron, when 
God afflicted him very sore : he is silent and submissive 
under the Lord's hand. "And Aaron held his peace." 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



81 



Lev. 10 : 3. If we consider the greatness of the punish- 
ment, we shall see the more cause to commend the greatness 
of his patience. Aaron lost his children — not his estate or 
worldly substance, but his children ; these are a part of a 
man's bowels : other earthly losses are not comparable to 
this ; therefore it was that Satan, that cunning enemy, 
reserved the loss of Job's children to the last onset, as his 
great masterpiece and sharpest attack. How sadly did 
Rachel lament and weep for her children. Matt. 2 : 18. 
Yet Aaron held his peace. Aaron lost his two sons at once. 
How pathetically did David bewail the loss of one son : " 0 
my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I 
had died for thee, 0 Absalom, my son, my son!" 2 Sam. 
18 : 33. Yet Aaron lost both his sons together, and saith 
not one word : " He held his peace." Aaron lost them by 
a sudden death, of which he had no warning. Sickness 
usually prepares men for the stroke that is coming by death ; 
but Aaron met with a surprising blow, yet he held his peace. 
Aaron's sons were not taken away by an ordinary stroke of 
God's hand, but by an extraordinary supernatural rod ; 
for it is said, " There went out fire from the Lord, and de- 
voured them, and they died before the Lord." Lev. 10:2. 
He lost them in such a manner as might speak forth God's 
anger. Now a religious father had rather lose all his chil- 
dren in the favor of God, than one child in his anger ; yetj 
whatever were the bitter ingredients of this cup, Aaron was 
not impatient against God that mixed it for him, but held 
his peace because God did it. 

4. To engage you to patience under your trials, do but 
compare your case with that of others. Do not say, there 
are none afflicted as you are ; for there are many plunged 
far deeper in the waters of Mara than you are : some are 
still upon the rack, and spend their whole days anl years in 
continual fighting and struggling; as in Psalm 31 : 10; 
" My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing." 

4# 



82 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Have you sore distress in your body ? others have grievous 
wounds in their souls. Do you bear the wrath of man ? 
others bear the wrath of God. You have but one single 
trial ; others have many twisted together. Some are stript 
of all comforts; you have comforts still remaining. You 
may have many sad things in your trial, but you have not 
ground as yet to complain as the psalmist doth : " All thy 
waves and thy billows are gone over me." Psalm 42 :7. 
Take a view of what the Son of God, what the apostles, and 
what the martyrs and other worthies have endured. They 
had trial of cruel mockings, scourgings, bonds, and imprison- 
ments : they wandered in deserts and mountains, and in 
dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
mented. They were tempted, they were crucified, stoned to 
death, sawn asunder, slain with the sword, etc. And yet, 
how well did they bear the cross ! Saith Paul, "We glory 
in tribulation." Rom. 5:3, And what saith James ? 
" My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temp- 
tations." James 1:2. As if he had said, Hejoice, aye, more 
and more, that you are afflicted ; God is magnifying you, he 
is visiting you, doing you good, taking the more pains with 
you, and fitting you for glory. 

5. The consideration of God's former mercies and kind- 
nesses to you should engage you to patience in trouble, and 
make you blush to take any thing ill out of God's hand. 
Thus Job taught his impatient wife : " What ; shall we re- 
ceive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive 
evil?" Job 2 : 10. 0 believer, let not thy afflictions cause 
thee to bury thy mercies in oblivion. Has not God brought 
thee from Satan's family and put thee among his children ; 
and will you forget or undervalue that honor ? Hath he 
struck off your fetters, taken off your prison-garments, and 
set you at liberty ; and will you be unthankful ? Hath he 
given you Christ for your treasure and portion, entitled you 
to his unsearchable riches ; and will you be discontented ? 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



S3 



Hath he given you the graces of his Spirit, which arc more 
precious than rubies ; and will you quarrel when he smites 
in some outward things ? Hath he made you an heir of 
glory, and provided eternal mansions above for you ; and 
will you be fretful for want of some trifles here ? The view 
Moses had of the recompense of reward in heaven, caused 
him to choose to suffer affliction patiently with the people 
of God. 

6. The time of affliction is usually God's gracious season 
of meeting with his people, the time of their rarest comforts 
and sweetest foretastes of heaven, according to 2 Cor. 1 : 5. 
Paul and Silas did never sing more joyfully than when they 
were laid in the inner prison, with their backs torn with 
scourges, and their feet fast in the stocks. Acts 16 : 24. 
And when was it that Jacob saw the angels of God ascend- 
ing and descending upon the ladder that reached between 
heaven and earth, but at the time when he was in a desti- 
tute case, forced to lie in the open field, having no canopy 
but the heavens and no pillow but a stone ? When was it 
that the three children saw Christ in the likeness of the Son 
of God with them, but when they were in the furnace, and 
that when it was hotter than ordinary ? When was it that 
Ezekiel had a vision of G od, but when sitting solitary by the 
river Chebar in the land of his captivity ? When was it 
that John got a glorious vision of Christ, but when he was 
an exile in the isle of Patmos ? And when was it that 
Stephen saw the heavens opened, and Christ standing at 
the right hand of God pleading for him, but when they were 
stoning and bruising him to death? So that the most 
remarkable experiences of God's kindness that believers get 
in this world, have been reserved to the time of affliction ; 
and this consideration should move every Christian to wait 
on the Lord, and bear his cross with patience. 

7. When you are helped to Christian patience and sub- 
mission under God's hand, it doth contribute much to the 



84 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



credit of religion, and to the conviction of the world, thai 
there is a reality in the truths of the gospel, and a great 
efficacy in the grace of God, which bears you up and carries 
you through beyond the strength of nature. 

8. 0 believer, bear up with patience under the cross, for 
thou hast not bng to bear it. God's wrath abideth on the 
church but for a moment, yea, a little moment. " Come, 
my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors 
about thee ; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until 
the indignation be overpast." Isa. 26 : 20. Surely a mo- 
ment, a little moment, which is the smallest part of time, 
will soon be over ; and wilt thou not have patience for a 
moment ? The psalmist supported himself with this consid- 
eration: "He will not always chide, neither will he keep his 
anger for ever." Psalm 103 : 9. The time of indignation 
will soon be overpast, and the time of consolation will suc- 
ceed. 0 believer, the end of all thy trials is near ; think on 
it, and look for it. Is it bodily pain or sickness that is thy 
affliction ? Then consider, the end of it will be either life or 
death ; if death, then what thou sufferest is the last brunt, 
bear it patiently. These enemies you now see, you will see 
them again no more. In the mansions above there is no 
pain nor crying : the inhabitants there shall never say they 
are sick ; and one hour with them will make thee forget all 
thy momentary afflictions. If the issue shall be life, you 
will be ashamed, when well, that you had no more patience 
while sick. 

I shall close this direction with the words of the apostle 
James : " Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken 
ir. the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering afflic- 
tion and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which 
endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have 
seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and 
of tender mercy." Jas. 5:10, 11. 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



35 



Direction 3. Let believers be much employed in the praises of 
God, while they are under affliction by sickness or otherwise. 

As we should bless the Lord at all times, and keep up 
good thoughts of God on every occasion, so especially in the 
time of affliction. Hence we are commanded to glorify the 
Lord in the fires. Isa. 24 : 15. And this the three children 
did in the hottest furnace. So Job blessed God when he 
had taken away his greatest comforts. Job 1:21. And this 
is agreeable to the command, " In every thing give thanks." 
1 Thess. 5 : 18. I grant, indeed, we cannot give thanks for 
affliction as affliction, but either as it is the means of some 
good to us, or as the gracious hand of God is some way 
observable therein towards us. In this respect there is no 
condition on this side of hell, but we have cause to praise 
God in it, even in the greatest calamities. Hence it was 
that David, when he speaks of his affliction, Psa. 119 : 67, 
adds presently, "Thou art good, and doest good." And 
he declares, verse 65, " Thou hast dealt well with thy ser- 
vant, 0 Lord, according unto thy word." Hence Paul and 
Silas praised God when they were scourged and impris- 
oned. Well then, 0 believer, obey the command of thy 
God, and imitate his worthies by praising God under thy 
affliction. For, 

1. This practice would be very pleasant and acceptable 
to God ; for as music is sweetest on the waters, so praise is 
most agreeable to God from an afflicted soul on the waters 
of trouble. It is a sign of a noble and generous spirit, to sing 
the praises of God's goodness while his hand is afflicting us. 
Distress and danger will make the most wicked man pray ; 
but it is a principle of love and gratitude that makes the 
troubled soul to praise. 

2. It would bring credit to religion, to see saints thank- 
ful and praising God under the cross : it would make people 
say, Surely they find sweetness in God and his ways, that we 
eee not ; they have meat to eat that the world knows not of. 



66 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



And this would invite strangers to come and try a religious 
life. The joyful praises of the martyrs at the stakes and in 
the flames, made people go home with love to religion in 
their hearts. 

3 . If the issue of your affliction should be death, this 
employment of praise would be a sweet preparative to fit 
and dispose you for the work of heaven. Use yourself much 
to this heavenly life, and be oft trying to sing the song of 
Moses and the Lamb in the time of sickness and trouble ; 
and this would sweeten the thoughts of death, and make you 
incline to be there, where praise is their constant work. 

Question. What should be the subject of a believer's 
thanksgiving and praise under affliction ? 

Answer 1 . He hath ground of praise on account of God's 
mercies to him through his past life. His mercies to thee, 
0 believer, cannot be numbered : compare thy mercies with 
thy crosses, and thou wilt soon see thy receivings are far 
greater than thy sufferings. Thou hast had many days of 
plenty for one day of scarcity, many days of liberty for one 
day of straits, many days of health for one day of sickness. 
And are not these to be remembered with praise ? 

2. And more particularly in thy greatest affliction, thou 
hast ground to praise God, 0 believer, that thou wast bora 
in a land of light, where thou hadst the means of conversion 
to God and acquaintance with Jesus Christ ; and especially, 
that God of his free grace made these means effectual to 
work a saving change in you, when others were passed by. 
Is not this matter* of praise, that he opened your eyes and 
humbled your soul and renewed your heart ; that he gave 
you Christ, forgave your sins, and adopted you into his fam- 
ily, and made you an heir of heaven ? Oh what a sad case 
would it be if you were yet in your sins, and in the bondage 
of Satan — if you had the work of conversion to begin, if you 
had your faith and justification and interest in Christ all to 
eeek, and all your preparation for heaven to make — if you 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



87 



had all this 'to do with a sick and pained body, and a disor- 
dered mind that cannot command one settled thought, with 
the terrible views of death and eternity before your eyes : 
this is the case that God in justice might have left you to. 
Well, then, ought you not to praise God, that sent his Holy 
Spirit in time to determine your heart to close with Christ, 
and be reconciled to that God before whom you are shortly 
to appear ; and that the sins which now would have been 
your terror, are all forgiven and washed away through the 
blood of Jesus Christ ? 

3. Is it not matter of praise in thy greatest trouble, that 
thou hast a great High-priest, that is passed into the heavens 
to provide a mansion with the Father for thee, and to re- 
ceive thy soul when separated from the body ; that where 
he is, there you may be also ? 

4. You have cause to bless God that he sends such suit- 
able harbingers as sickness and trouble to tell you that death 
is approaching, and that he should take such pains with you 
to wean you from the world, and make you willing to be 
gone. Many of God's people, that at the beginning of a sick- 
ness have been averse to dying, by the increase and continu- 
ance of it have been brought to be well satisfied to depart, 
that they may be with Christ. 

5. You have ground to bless God for timing your afflic- 
tions so well, that he sent them not till he saw you stood in 
need of them. He saw a " need be" for them, as in 1 Pet. 
1:6, and he would not let you want what was needful. 

6. You ought to praise God that he mitigates your trials, 
and proportions your burden for your back ; that when he 
takes the rod to you, he hath not. made it a scorpion ; that 
when he deprived you of one comfort and enjoyment, he did 
not strip you of all, and leave you wholly comfortless ; that 
when you suffer in one thing, he hath not made you to suffer 
in every thing — in soul, body, estate, relations, and all to- 
gether ; that instead of afflicting you for a few days, he hath 



88 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



not made your whole life a scene of misery and affliction. 
Bless God that he punisheth you less, unspeakably less than 
your iniquities deserve ; that your sick-bed is not hell, your 
fever is not everlasting burnings, your pain is not the gnaw- 
ing of the Avorm that never dieth. 

7. You have cause to praise God that your affliction is 
not so great as that of some others, and even of some that 
were very dear to God, and had not grieved him so much 
as you have done. Hemember the trials that some have 
endured of whom the world was not worthy, which I men- 
tioned before, as recorded Hebrews 11. Yours are nothing 
to theirs, nothing to those of Job, that eminent servant oi 
God. Observe the difference with thanksgiving and praise. 

8. You have reason to bless God for the strength and 
support he hath given you under affliction. You would soon 
sink and succumb under a small Lurden, if he did not sup- 
port you by his grace ; but when he bears you up, the heav- 
iest trial shall not sink you. Have you not met with some 
afflictions, which you thought at a distance you would never 
be able to bear up under ; yet when they came, you have 
found them light, by reason of the strength God bestowed 
on you ? 

9. You have ground of thanksgiving, because the mer- 
cies and blessings which God hath continued with you are 
far greater than those he hath taken from you. For though 
he hath taken this and that temporal blessing from you, yet 
he hath not taken Christ from you, nor his Holy Spirit. He 
hath not separated you from his love, nor cut you off from 
all hopes of heaven. However great your trials may be, 
yet still there is a mixture of mercy in your lot, which 
should be a matter of praise. 

10. You have cause, 0 believer, to bless God that all 
the afflictions he brings on you are in love, and for your 
profit. All his ways are mercy and truth to you. If he 
smile, it is in mercy ; and if he smite, it is in mercy. G od 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



89 



may change his dispensations towards his children, but never 
his disposition. His heart is still towards them, and the 
cords wherewith he scourge th them are cords of love. Their 
profit is the great thing he aims at in all his chastisements. 
Heb. 12 : 10. He designs thereby to reclaim them from 
their wanderings, cut off provisions for their lusts, make 
them pant and long for a better state, and cause them to 
mend their pace towards it. Hence David saith, "It is good 
for me that I was afflicted : for before I was afflicted I went 
astray, but now have I kept thy word." Psa. 119 : 67, 71. 
From all which it appears, that you have manifold grounds 
of praise, even in time of affliction. 

Direction 4. Let the children of God 5 when visited with sick- 
ness, set about actual preparation for death and eternity. 

Every believer hath his main work done, and is always 
in a gracious state, by reason of his union with Jesus Christ, 
his reconciliation with God through the merit of his blood, 
and the universal change that is wrought in him by regen- 
erating and sanctifying grace ; upon which account every 
child of God hath habitual preparation for meeting with 
death. Yet, because frequently when sickness cometh there 
are many things out of order with them, that make death 
frightful and undesirable, they must set about actual prep- 
aration for death, and seek to have their souls made ready 
for the bridegroom's coming. And here I shall show where- 
in this actual readiness of believers doth consist, which should 
be their proper work and exercise in time of sickness, espe- 
cially when sickness is lingering and doth not destroy the 
use of reason. But beware of thinking that this should be 
delayed till sickness come. No, no ; the time of health is 
the main working season, and all should be finished then 
as far as possible. But seeing even the best generally find 
much to do at the very last, I shall give the following ad- 
vices for your actual preparation. 

1. Seeing sickness is a means appointed of God for his 



90 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



people's good, and particularly for fitting them for a beitei 
world, labor earnestly to reap the benefit of sickness ; seek 
God's blessing upon it, that thereby you may be helped to 
discover more of the evil of sin, that you may hate and abhor 
it the more, and that you may see more effectually the vanity 
and vexation of the world, and get your heart loosed from 
all the things of time, and brought to a willingness to depart, 
that you may be with Christ. 

2. Seeing the time of sickness and death is the time of 
your greatest need, beg earnestly of God, for your Redeem- 
er's sake, such special assistance, influences, and operations 
of his Holy Spirit, as he knows needful for you in your pres- 
ent low and weak condition, in order to carry on and com- 
plete your actual readiness for. meeting with himself at death, 
and entering into the invisible world, and being unalterably 
fixed in your everlasting state. 

3. E-enew the exercise of repentance, and of faith in the 
blood of Christ, for removing all grounds of quarrel and 
controversy between God and your soul. And in order 
thereto, review your past life, and look into your heart also, 
and search out every predominant sin and idol of jealousy ; 
for if there be any iniquity regarded in your heart and unre- 
pented of by you, it may occasion no little anguish and bit- 
terness of spirit in a dying hour. When thou hast discov- 
ered sin, humbly confess and bewail it before the Lord, and 
ask forgiveness for it through the blood of Jesus Christ the 
Son of God, which cleanseth from all sin. Yea, make con- 
fession of all thy own sins, and particularly reflect upon the 
fountain and spring of them, thy original sin. Know the 
plague of thine own heart, and mourn over it ; mourn for 
the loss and misspending of much precious time. Mourn for 
the unprofitableness of thy life. Now, when the axe is laid 
to the root of the tree by sickness, it is high time to mourn 
for your unfruitfulness under the grace and waterings of the 
Holy Spirit. Mourn for your sinning against such light and 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



9i 



love as have been many days displayed to you in the glori- 
ous gospel ; and in a special manner mourn for your sins 
of omission, which commonly are but little minded by us. 
Thus mourn for all thy sins, till thou dost water thy couch 
with tears. It is most suitable that death should find every 
man, even every child of God, in the exercise of mourning 
and repentance ; for they that thus sow in tears shall eter- 
nally reap in joy. But see that your tears run much in the 
gospel channel, and flow from believing views of a crucified 
Christ, whom you have pierced by your sins. And in the 
midst of your mourning, be still aiming to take faith's grasp 
of the clefts of this rock, for sheltering thy soul from the 
guilt of by-past sins ; say, " Lord Jesus, I have no refuge 
but thy wounds, no fountain but thy blood, no covert but 
thy righteousness. And seeing thou freely makest offer of 
thy merits for my protection, and invitest even the chief of 
sinners to come unto thee, saying, ' Look unto me, and be ye 
saved,' Lord, I embrace the offer, and flee to thee to cover 
me." 0 believer, do this, not once or twice, but do it a 
hundred times over ; do it as long as thou hast breath to 
draw in the world. Be still breathing to the very last after 
a crucified Jesus for relief against the guilt of sin, which 
thou art always contracting, and wilt be till the earthly 
house of this tabernacle be dissolved. 

4. In order to your actual readiness to go forth to meet 
the bridegroom, when coming to you by death, you must, 
as the wise virgins did, arise and trim your lamps. Matt. 
25 : 7. As it is not enough to have a fair lamp of a profes- 
sion, so it is not sufficient to have only the oil of grace in 
the lamp ; nay, to have it burning in some degree. There 
is more requisite at this time, that the soul may be actually 
ready ; the lamp must be trimmed : which imports, first, 
a supplying it with more oil. You must seek to have your 
grace increased, to have new strength and new supplies of 
grace given you from God, to fit you for the last conflict 



92 



AFFLICTED MAIN'S COMPANION. 



with your spiritual enemies, and especially the last enemy ; 
death. Secondly, it imports a stirring up of the oil, and 
raising the wick higher. So there must be an excitation ol 
grace, which may be in a low, declining condition ; you 
must endeavor to stir and raise it up to a more lively exer 
cise, and more elevated acts. " Stir up the gift that is ir, 
thee ;" make the oil burn clear and shine bright. Bring 
faith, love, repentance, and holy desires to a lively exercise. 
Thirdly, this trimming imports the cleansing of the lamp, 
by taking away the dead ashes that hinder the light, or pre- 
vent its burning so clearly as it otherwise would. So you 
must labor to take away the dead ashes of corruption, that 
hinder the shining of grace ; remove all unbelief, earthli- 
ness, deadness, self-seeking, and formality, and whatever 
else doth suppress the exercise of faith, love, and heavenly- 
mindedness : let all these dead ashes be snuffed away by 
repentance and mortification. As you ought to strive ear- 
nestly against all these heart evils in time of health, so now 
labor to give them a deadly stroke when death's harbinger 
gives you a summons. 

5. Be diligent in gathering and summing up all your 
evidences for heaven and eternal life, that so you may not 
venture into the dark valley at an uncertainty. The com- 
fort of dying will much depend on the clearness of your evi- 
dences. It is therefore your wisdom to examine them care- 
fully, and see if you can say, "I know in whom I have be- 
lieved ; I have consented with my soul to the method of 
salvation laid down in the covenant of grace. I am desirous 
that the glory of it should be eternally ascribed to the free 
grace of God, and the creature be wholly abased in his sight ; 
I have chosen God for my portion, and Christ for my only 
Saviour ; and the happiness which I aim at, is to enjoy God 
in Christ for ever. And in order thereto, I depend on the 
Holy Spirit to apply the redemption which Jesus Christ hath 
purchased for me, and to sanctify me perfectly. There is 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



93 



no sin but what I hate, and desire to part with. I would 
rather have more holiness, than to have health and all the 
pleasures in the world. I earnestly desire the flourishing 
of Christ's kingdom, and prefer Jerusalem's good to my 
chiefest joy." If these your evidences be clear, you may 
cheerfully take death by the cold hand, and welcome its 
grim messengers, and long to be gone that you may be with 
Christ. You may say, "Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou 
art with me." Psalm 23 : 4. You may go off the stage 
with the psalmist's words in your mouth, "Into thy hand I 
commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, 0 Lord God of 
truth." Psalm 31:5. 

6. Labor earnestly to overcome the love of life and the 
fear of death, so as to be content to part with all things here 
at God's call. 0 believer, what is there in this earth to 
tempt thee to hang back, when God calls you to depart ? 
While you are here, you may lay your account with many 
losses, crosses, disappointments, griefs, and calamities of all 
sorts. Friends will fail you, enemies will hate you, lusts 
will molest you, Satan will tempt you, and the world will 
deceive you. Death is the way that the dearest of God's 
saints and all the cloud of witnesses have gone before you ; 
yea, the Lord Jesus your Head hath trod this path, and hath 
taken the sting out of death, and hath paved a way through 
the dark valley that his people may safely follow him. 
Hath the Captain of your salvation gone before you, and will 
any of his soldiers shrink to follow him ? Are you content 
to remain always at the same distance from him, and to 
enjoy no more of his presence than now you have ? Are 
you satisfied to live for ever with no more holiness or 
heavenly-mindedness than at present you have ? Do you 
not groan under your remaining ignorance, deadness, wan- 
denngs^ pride, passion, unbelief, selfishness, worldliness, and 
orher sins and lusts that here beset you ? And are you not 



94 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



desirous to go to the place where you" will be eternally free 
from them all, and where you shall never complain of a 
dull, dead, and senseless frame of heart, or of any heart- 
weariness or wandering in duty any more ? For the heart 
shall then be as a fixed pillar in the temple of God, and shall 
go no more out : the eternal adoration and praises of God 
shall be the soul's delight and element for ever. By such 
considerations strive to conquer the fears of death and desires 
of life, which are often great clogs to the people of God in 
their preparations for the eternal world. 

7. Be oft meditating upon the heavenly glory which all 
believers will shortly see and enjoy. Be much in the con- 
templation of the glorious company above ; behold Christ 
upon his glorious throne at the right hand of God, and Abra- 
ham, David, Peter, Paul, and all the rest of the faithful ones, 
with their crowns of righteousness, triumphing in the pres- 
ence of their Redeemer. Think, 0 believer, how happy that 
day will be, when thou shalt meet with thy father and breth- 
ren, and shalt see thy elder Brother on the throne ready to 
pass sentence in thy favor. With what melody will that 
sentence sound in thy ears : " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
the world." What frame wilt thou be in, when he sets the 
crown of glory on thy head ? "0 eternally free love," thou 
wilt cry, " 0 Saviour, thou didst wear a crown of thorns, 
that I might wear a crown of glory ; thou didst groan on 
the cross, that I might now sing. Wonderful free love, that 
chose me when thousands were passed by ; that saved me 
from ruin, when my companions in sin must burn in hell 
for ever." Think how ravishing it will be to meet with 
your godly acquaintances in heaven, with whom you pray- 
ed, praised, and conversed here. Will you not then cry out, 
" 0 my brethren, what a change is here ; this glorious place 
is not like the poor dwellings we had on earth ; this body, 
this soul, this state, this place, our clothes, our company, our 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



language, our thoughts, are far unlike those we had then. 
The bad hearts, the body of death, the corruptions and 
temptations we then complained of, are all gone. We have 
no more fear of death or hell, no more use for repentance or 
prayer, faith or hope; these are now swallowed up in im- 
mediate vision, eternal love, joy, and praise." And for thy 
help, 0 believer, in meditating on these things, read some 
parts of the book of Revelation, or cause them to be read to 
you ; and suppose with yourself that you had been a com- 
panion with John in the isle of Patmos, and had got such a 
view of the glorious majesty, the bright thrones, the heav- 
enly hosts, and shining splendor which he saw— the saints 
in their white robes, with crowns on their heads and palms 
in their hands — and heard them singing the song of Moses 
and the Lamb, and trumpeting forth their eternal hallelu- 
jahs ; what a heavenly rapture wouldst thou have been in. 
Well, 0 believer, thou shalt shortly have clearer and sweeter 
sights than all these which John or any of the saints ever 
saw here upon earth. Surely that heavenly glory is a sub- 
ject worthy of thy thoughts, and most suitable for thee to 
meditate on in time of sickness, and when in the view of 
death. 

8. It would be also very suitable at this time, in order 
to your actual readiness for death, to be frequently looking 
out and longing for Christ's coming. As Abraham stood in 
his tent door, ready to go forth to meet the angels that were 
sent unto him, so should the believer keep himself in a wait- 
ing posture at this time. He should be like the loving wife, 
that longs and looks for the coming of her absent husband, 
according to his letters to her. By this time, thinks she, he 
will be at such a place, and against such a time he will be 
at another place, and so in a few days I shall see him. It 
is a character given of believers, they are such, as love his 
appearing, 2 Tim. 4 : 8. They desire his coming. " Make 
haste, my beloved." Cant. 8:14. " Even so, come, Lord 



96 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Jesus, come quickly." Rev. 22 : 20. Believers should look 
upon themselves as pilgrims here, wandering in a wilderness, 
absent from home, and at a distance from their father's 
house ; and in time of affliction it is very proper for them to 
be crying as David doth, " 0 that I had wings like a dove, 
for then would I fly away, and be at rest ; I would hasten 
my escape from the windy storm and tempest." Psalm 
55 : 6, 18. "0 when shall the time of my pilgrimage, and 
the days of my banishment be finished, that I may get home 
to my country and friends above ? 0, my Lord is gone, my 
Saviour hath left the earth and entered into his gl-ory ; my 
friends and brethren are gone to their blessed rest, where 
they see God's face and sing his praise for ever: and how 
can I be willing to stay behind, when they are' gone ? Must 
I be sinning here, when they are serving God above ? Must 
I be groaning and sighing, when they are triumphing and 
dividing the spoil ? Surely I will look after them and cry, 
0 Lord, how long ? when may I be with my Saviour and 
my God ?" 

Direction 5. Let believers in time of sickness endeavor all they 
can to glorify God, and edify those that are about them, by 
their conversation and behavior. 

If ever a child of God be active to promote the honor 
and glory of God, it should be in time of sickness, and when 
death may be approaching. And there is good reason for 
it : for, 

1. This may be the last opportunity that ever thou shalt 
have to do any thing for God on earth ; and therefore thou 
shouldst study to improve it to the uttermost. Heaven, to 
which thou art going, is the place where thou shalt receive 
thy reward ; but thou canst have no access there to advance 
God's glory, by commending God and Christ and religion to 
sinners or weak believers. Upon this account many of God's 
children have been content to suspend their heavenly hap- 
piness for a while, and to stay upon the earth for some longei 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



97 



time. I have read of a certain martyr who, when going to 
suffer, expressed some sorrow that he was going thither, 
where he should do his God no more service ; that is, in the 
sense above explained. And of another that said, " If it were 
possible there could be place for any grief in heaven, it would 
arise from the Christian's considering that he did so little for 
God while he was upon earth." Now is the working season ; 
0 believer, be busy while it lasts, according to the example 
of thy blessed Saviour : "I must work the work of Him that 
sent me, while it is day : the night cometh, wherein no man 
can work." John 9 : 4. This consideration should make 
thee bestir thyself with the greatest activity, like Sampson 
before his death ; who, when he could have no more oppor- 
tunity to serve God and his church, cried to God and said, 
'? 0 Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me 
only this once." Judges 16 : 28. And then he bowed him- 
self with all his might to pull down the pillars of D agon's 
temple, being willing to sacrifice his life to the ruin thereof. 

2. The holy language and conduct of dying believers 
may, through the blessing of God, make a deep impression 
upon the hearts of unregenerate men that are witnesses to 
them. Many who have derided the people of God for the 
strictness of their lives, and despised their counsels and re- 
proofs as proceeding from ill-humor or preciseness, have be- 
gun to notice their words and actions when they have seen 
them on sick-beds and on the borders of eternity, and to have 
other thoughts of religion and holiness than formerly they 
had. Now, they think, the man is in good earnest, and 
gpeaketh the thoughts of his heart ; and, if ever he can be 
believed, it must be noAV. It is most convincing to carnal 
persons to see believers bearing up with patience in their 
lickness ; to hear them speaking good of God, commending 
his ways, and rejoicing in God as their portion in the midst 
of their sharpest pains : to see them behaving as those that 
are going to dwell with Christ ; smiling and praising God, 

Affl. Man's Companion. 5 



98 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

when friends are sighing and weeping about them. This 
inclines them to think, surely there must be a reality in re- 
ligion ; there is a visible difference between the death of the 
righteous and that of the wicked. Hence a. wicked Balaam 
wished to die the death of the righteous, and to have his last 
end like his. It left a conviction upon that young man's 
conscience, who^said to his loose companion, after they had 
visited godly Ambrose on his death-bed, and seen how cheer- 
ful he was and triumphing over approaching death, "0 that 
I might live with thee, and die with Ambrose." Nay, such 
sights might draw them not only to desire to die the death 
of the righteous, but also to resolve to live their lives. If 
carnal men saw believers going off the stage with such con- 
fidence and joy as becomes those that are entering into 
eternal rest with Christ, and those that are going out of a 
howling wilderness to a glorious Canaan, it might be a 
powerful invitation to them to go and seek after the same 
felicity. 

3. This likewise would be very edifying and confirming 
to all that fear God. How much would it contribute to es- 
tablish them in the practice of holiness, and to quicken them 
in their diligence in obeying and glorifying God in the days 
of their health, to hear a dying believer say, "Of all the 
time which I have lived, I have no comfort now in reflect- 
ing upon one hour but what I spent in the service of God. 
"Were I to begin my life, I would redeem time more carefully 
than ever. One hour in communion with God is far sweeter 
than many years spent in worldly pleasures. Come here, 
then, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath 
done for my soul. 0 taste and see that God is good." 

4. Consider the' examples of God's children in former 
ages, how useful and edifying their words have been at such 
a time to all around them. But this head I intend to treat 
more fully afterwards. 

Question. But how shall I behave so as to glorify God 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



99 



and edify others when I am sick or dying ? I would have 
some particular directions for it. 

Answer 1. You may do this by your patience under pain 
and submission to God's will with respect to the event, 
whether life or death. It is a stumbling-stone to others to 
see believers fretful in trouble, and unwilling to leave the 
world when God calls them. But it is. most convincing 
and confirming to see them frankly resigning themselves to 
God's disposal, saying, "Let God himself choose for me ; he 
is wise, and knoweth best what is needful and proper for 
me ; I have no will but God's will." For any man to de- 
sire to live when God calls him to die, or to desire to^lie 
when God calls him to live, is equally a sin of cowardice ; 
for he that desires to live is afraid to look death in the face, 
and he that desires to die would flee from some calamity 
and take shelter in .death. But he is the most valiant man 
that can die willingly when God would have him die, and 
live as willingly when God would have him live. This is 
true Christian valor. 

2. By pious exhortations and warnings to those that are 
about you. It may be the last occasion you may have of 
glorifying God this way. 0 do not lose the season which 
may be usefully improved for the good of souls. For thus a 
believer may bring more honor to God, and more advantage 
to precious souls by his sickness and death, than ever he did 
by all his health and life in the world ; for' his words have 
more weight with the people at such a time than at any 
other,. Hence the patriarchs, knowing the prevalency of 
such words, urged Joseph with Jacob's, dying charge : "And 
they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did 
command before he died, so shall ye say unto Joseph, For- 
give, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren." Gen. 
50 : 16, 17. And as we ought to be ready to give good coun- 
sel to all when we lie on sick-beds, so especially we should 
be concerned for our children and near relations ; they are 



100 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

more affected than others with our sickness, and so will 
they be with our sayings ; our admonitions may do them 
good when we are rotting in the dust. 

Question. "What ought to be the subject of our remarks 
and exhortations to others at such a time ? 

Answer 1. It is very proper to be much in commend 
ing the Master you have served, and the excellency of his 
service, to those that are about you. Tell them of the equity 
and goodness of the laws which you have obeyed ; of the 
bounty and faithfulness of that Lord whom you have wor- 
shipped, loved, and praised ; and of the greatness and eter- 
nity of that reward you are going to possess. Let the chil- 
dren of God extol their Father, and his care of them and 
kindness to them. Let the ransomed of the Lord magnify 
their Redeemer, and his wonderful love and sufferings for 
them. Tell others what sweetness and satisfaction you 
have found in your own experience in attending God's or- 
dinances, and in secret duties ; what comfort you have 
found in Christ and the promises of his covenant. And 
thus let your last breath be spent in exalting and com- 
mending Christ and religion to others. 

2. "Warn others of the vanity of the world and all its 
wealth and pleasures. Tell them that they may see by 
your case that those things which people are bewitched 
with in the day of their health, can signify nothing to a sick 
or dying man; they cannot ease us in our pains, they can 
afford no peace to a troubled soul ; they cannot lengthen 
our life one hour, and far less can they save from the wrath 
of an angry God. "Oh," may you say, "what a miserable 
case had I been in at this time, if I had no better portion 
than this world, and nothing else to look to but to its riches 
and pleasures. "Wherefore, sirs, set not your hearts upon it, 
but forsake it before you be forsaken by it, and make choice 
of that which will support you in the evil day." 

3. "Warn them of the evil of sin, and what mischief and 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



101 



deceitfulness you have found in it. Tell them that " though 
the devil and the flesh would tempt you to look on sin as a 
harmless thing, yet the pleasure will soon be gone, and a 
sharp sting will be left behind. Sin will appear no light 
matter when the soul is going hence into the awful presence 
of a holy God. You would give a thousand worlds then 
for Christ and the blood of atonement to answer for youi 
sins." 

4. Tell them the great difference between the godly and 
the wicked man's choice. The godly man chooseth the good 
part that cannot be taken from him ; he lays up his treasure 
in heaven where none can reach it, so that it yields him rich 
supplies when sickness and death come upon him. But 0 
how foolish is the wicked man's choice, that for a moment's 
fleshly pleasure, doth lose his immortal soul and everlasting 
happiness. "Warn them to mind the one thing needful in 
time, and not pamper their body for the worms, but to set 
themselves immediately to close with the offers of Christ, 
and make sure an interest in his righteousness to cover them 
in the evil day. 

5. Tell them of the evil of sloth and negligence in the 
work of their salvation ; and exhort them to mind it, and 
to do it with all their might. For however some may cen- 
sure and deride God's people now for their strictness, dili- 
gence, and zeal in the matter of religion, yet when they come 
to die, they will be ready to wish that they had been more 
diligent in the work of salvation ; that they had loved God, 
fled to Christ, and sought and served him with all their 
hearts and souls ; and to cry, "0 for a little more time ; 0 
if God would recover and try us once with health, how dil- 
igent would we be." Tell them also, that those who have 
been most serious and self-denying in the work of salvation, 
yet when they come to die, do much lament their sloth and 
negligence ; yea, those that have been most reproached by 
the world for their diligence and fervency, do often wish at 



102 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

-that time, "0 that we had been a thousand times more dil« 
igent and laborious in God's service." 

6. Labor to persuade others of the preciousness of time, 
the wisdom of improving the season of youth and of health, 
and the great folly of delaying repentance and of putting it 
off to a sick-bed. Say to them, " I find now by experience, 
that a time of sickness is a most unfit season to do any thing 
to purpose for the soul ; my mind is so diverted and indis- 
posed for spiritual work by sickness and pain, that I cannot 
attain to any suitable composure for it. And how miserable 
were I, if I had all my work to begin at this time. 0 take 
warning, and improve precious time ; and especially the day 
of the gospel, the time of the Spirit's striving, and the time 
of youth, which is the most usual season of the conversion of 
souls, and of bringing sinners Into acquaintance with Jesus 
Christ." 

Direction 6. Let God's children, when sick or dying, feel and 
manifest a great concern for the advancement of the kingdom 
of Christ, and of true religion among the rising generation. 

Zeal for Christ's interests is very becoming his people in 
all the periods of their life, but more especially at this time. 
"When Christ is ready to take you to his kingdom in heaven, 
0 be not unmindful of his kingdom on earth. It would be 
acceptable to God, and pleasant in the sight of men, to see 
you expressing a warm concern for the rising age, and for 
promoting the welfare of the souls of your children and others 
that survive you ; and seeing you can be no longer useful to 
those you leave behind, by your counsels, examples, or pray- 
ers as formerly, do your utmost for them now. And this 
concern the children of God in time of sickness may evidence 
several ways. 

1. By earnest prayers to God, both fox the prosperity of 
his church, and the flourishing of religion in general, and 
also for your children and relations in particular, that they 
may be a holy seed and a generation to serve God, and 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



103 



show* forth his praise in the world, when you are gone off 
the stage. 

2. By intrusting the care of your children's education to 
such tutors and guardians as will be concerned for their 
souls, and will set before them godly examples and instruc- 
tions in their young and tender years. 

3. By filling your wills with pious advices and solemn 
charges to your children and relations, with respect to their 
serving God and worshipping him in their families and in 
secret ; so that they can never look into your testaments, 
and the legacies left to them, but they will see something 
that may be afFecting, arousing, and edifying to their souls. 

4. By honoring the Lord with your substance, and leav- 
ing something of what God hath blessed you with to pious 
uses ; particularly for the religious education of the children 
of the poor, for buying Bibles and other good books for them, 
and for propagating Christian knowledge in ignorant places. 
For by fatal experience we may observe that the most godly 
parents do not know how their children will employ the 
estate they leave them, whether as fuel for their lusts, or as 
oil to feed the lamps in God's sanctuary. It is proper for 
themselves then, before they go off the stage, to dispose of 
some part of their substance for the glory and service of that 
God who gave it unto them. 

5. It might contribute to promote piety, and make deeper 
impressions upon the minds of your children and friends, if, 
under the warnings of death, you should imitate the example 
of the prophet Elijah, who in his lifetime made a writing, 
which he procured to be delivered to king Jehoram after his 
death. 2 Chron. 21 : 12. So in like manner you might 
write letters and leave them in the hands of your friends 
and executors, full of advices, charges, admonitions, consola- 
tions, or threatenings, to be delivered to your children or 
friends upon occasion either of their good or bad conversa- 
tion after your death ; which probably would be more re- 



104 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



garded by them than the counsels you gave them in the 
time of your life ; for, in some respect, they would be receiv- 
ed and read by them as if they were letters from heaven. 

Direction 7. Let the children of God labor to fortify themselves 
against all Satan's temptations and assaults, which they may 
expect to meet with in time of sickness and affliction. 

A time of affliction is commonly a time of temptation, 
for the old serpent knows the fittest seasons for assaulting 
the children of God ; and he will not be wanting to improve 
this opportunity of advantage for falling upon the poor soul. 
When Pharaoh heard that the people were entangled in the 
wilderness, he pursued them ; so when Satan sees a soul 
entangled with distress and trouble, he thinks it high time 
to make an attack. He seeks to winnow and sift away the 
believer's grace, and therefore he comes when the corn is 
under a threshing by the rod. "When Job was smitten in 
his estate, health, and all other comforts, then this coward 
falls upon him, and tempts him to impatience, murmuring, 
and wrong thoughts of God. 

At this time, 0 believer, you have special need to be on 
your guard, and look out. Reckon always, when sickness 
or trouble cometh, the prince of this world cometh also. 
Stand then to your defence, and put on your armor, espe- 
cially the shield of faith, that you may be able to quench the 
fiery darts of the devil. You have need at this time to put 
in practice our Lord's direction, " Watch and pray, that ye 
enter not into temptation." Pray for wisdom and skill to 
counteract the evil one, and that you may not be ignorant ot 
his devices, and pray particularly for grace to make you 
proof against all his false representations of God and his 
providence to you ; for he that durst represent Job falsely to 
an all-seeing and all-knowing God, will with much boldness 
represent God falsely to you, who see and know so little. 
He will be ready to tempt you to think that God is angry 
with you, and dealing with you as an enemy. Thus was 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



105 



Job tempted : " Behold, lie findetli occasions against me, he 
counteth me for his enemy : he putteth my feet in the stocks, 
he marketh all my paths." Job 33 : 10, 11. But observe 
what Elihu answers: "In this thou art not just; God is 
greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him ? for 
he giveth not account of any of his matters." But seeing 
I have spoken before of the wrong thoughts of God which 
we are apt to harbor in time of affliction, Chapter II., Direc- 
tion 3, I shall proceed to speak of some other temptations 
wherewith Satan doth assault God's people when in distress, 
and furnish some answers thereto. 

Temptation 1. Saith the tempter, "Thou art nothing 
but a hypocrite : all thy religious performances have been 
done in hypocrisy, to be seen of men: thou never. hast re- 
pented or believed sincerely in the sight of God." 

Answer. I acknowledge there hath been much hypoc- 
risy in me, but I hope it is not allowed and reigning hypoc- 
risy ; I always wrestled against it : wherefore I am not a 
hypocrite. I regarded the esteem of men too much, but I 
hope I value the esteem of God much more. My faith and 
repentance are weak, but I hope they are sincere. And 
whatever defects and shortcomings have formerly cleaved to 
these graces in me, I do now unfeignedly repent of all my 
sins, I look to Him whom I have pierced, and mourn. I am 
heartily willing to be justified by the righteousness of Christ 
alone, and to be cleansed and sanctified by his Spirit ; and 
here I give up myself to Christ as my only Saviour. And 
this I hope is, through grace, true repenting and believing, 
which God will accept, for Christ's sake, whatever my former 
defects have been. 

Temptation 2. But saith the tempter, " Thy repentance 
cannot be true ; for thy heart is not broken, and thine eyes 
do not shed tears for sin." 

Answer. It is my very great burden and constant com- 
plaint to God, that I cannot attain to a greater measure of 

5* 



106 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



sorrow and contrition for sin; but yet it is my comfort, that 
repentance is not to be confined to such degrees and symp- 
toms of sorrow as some do win at. I hope I can say through 
grace, that my heart is set against all sin, great and small ; 
and I would give up all I have in the world to be wholly 
delivered from sin. 

Temptation 3. Saith the tempter, " But thy day of grace 
is past, it is too late for thee to think of repenting or believ 
ing : God will not accept of thee now." 

Answer. Nay, I hope it is not so with me, seeing God 
gives me a heart that pants after him and Christ in the way 
of commanded duty. The offers of salvation through Christ 
are made to all who believe and repent ; and late penitents 
are not excluded from the benefits of these gracious offers 
more than others. 

Temptation 4. But saith the tempter, " Thou art none 
of God's elect, and if thou be not chosen to salvation, thou 
canst not be saved." 

Answer. Secret things belong to God, and it were pre- 
sumption in me to pry into his secret decrees; but one thing 
I am sure of, that every soul that is chosen to faith and 
repentance, is also chosen to salvation: I trust God hath 
chosen me to the former, and therefore to the latter. 

Temptation 5. But saith the tempter, "You overvalue 
your graces and duties, and so they cannot be true and real." 

Answer. Nay, I count them all but loss and dung in 
comparison with Christ. I desire always to be deeply hum- 
bled under a sense of my sinfulness and un worthiness, and to 
abhor every motion that would carry me away from Christ 
and his righteousness, and would tempt me to rely on my 
grace and duties, or put them in the least in Christ's room. 

Temptation 6. " The issue of thy sickness may be death ; 
and thou art not ready, for thou hast no assurance of thy 
salvation." 

Answer. A perfect certainty is not to be expected here; 



BELIEVERS IN AFFLICTION. 



107 



there will be still some questions, some doubts and fears ; 
but these I resolve not to indulge now, but to break through 
all, that I may embrace Christ and be found in him. The 
desires of my soul are to Christ and the remembrance of his 
name; and such I believe he will not suffer to perish. "I 
believe; Lord, help my unbelief." 

Temptation 7. " But thou art a stranger to the invisi- 
ble world ; how wilt thou adventure into that world of spirits 
with which thou hast so little acquaintance ?." 

Answer. Christ, who is my head and best friend, is no 
stranger to it ; he is the Lord of that land, and provides 
mansions for all his people there ; and he will receive every 
one of them home, and lodge them safely. "The spirits of 
just men made perfect," were once what my spirit now is ; 
they were strangers to that world before they came, to it, as 
well as I ; but their Head being there, encouraged them to 
go to it ; and now they rejoice in it as the kindly dwelling- 
place of all the saints. 

Temptation 8. "But thou art vile, and God is infinitely 
pure and glorious ; how canst thou think of approaching so 
near to him ?" 

Answee,. Though a weak eye be not able to look upon 
the sun, yet I hope to be fitted and strengthened for that 
glorious sight. Besides, God doth now appear to us in his 
Son Jesus Christ, where his infinite glory is pleasantly veiled 
so that saints may behold him. Those glorified souls above 
were once vile as well as others ; but their Saviour did cleanse 
them, and present them to the Father without spot or wrin- 
kle. And whatever be my unworthiness, I am relieved by 
considering my union with Christ, and looking on the glory 
and dignity of my Head. Surely God will not despise the 
members of his dear Son, nor trample on any that are his 
flesh and bones. 

Temptation 9. "But what will become of thy wife and 
children when thou art taken from them?" 



108 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

Answer. If I trust God so willingly with my soul and 
my eternal concerns, why may I not trust him with my re- 
lations also ? Have I not seen how wonderfully he hath 
provided for others ? Doth not every thing in the world 
depend on his will and pleasure ? How easy is it then for 
G od to supply his own ? 

Temptation 10. "But still, death is terrible to nature ; 
he is even the king of terrors." 

Answer. My Redeemer hath tasted death for me, and 
taken out its fearful sting ; he hath conquered death, and 
keeps the keys of death and hell. Wherefore, through him 
will I sing, " 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where 
is thy victory ?" 

Temptation 1 1 . "But it is terrible to think of appearing 
before God's tribunal to be tried and judged." 

Answer. My friend and intercessor will be the Judge 
there. Will Christ condemn the members of his own body 
whom he hath so often comforted ? 

Besides these, a holy God may sometimes suffer the 
tempter to assault his own people in time of their affliction 
with his fiery darts and his fiercest battering engines, such 
as temptations to atheism, blasphemy, and despair, whereby 
their souls may be terribly shaken and sore amazed. 

Your relief in this case is to look to your Head, and re- 
member how he was himself buffetted by this enemy, and 
assaulted with the most odious temptations, that he might 
thereby get an experimental touch and feeling of your con- 
dition, in order to his sympathizing with you, and relieving 
you from this enemy whom he hath already conquered in 
your name. But for these things he will be inquired of by 
the house of Israel. You must exercise faith in your ex- 
alted Head. 



THE UNREOENERATE IN AFFLI0110N. 109 



CHAPTER IY. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS TO UNREG-ENERATE PERSONS, WHEN 
AFFLICTED BY SICKNESS OR OTHERWISE. 

Direction 1. Take a serious view of the miserable condition of 
a Christless person under sickness or heavy affliction. 

Consider the vast difference between your case and that 
of a true believer: he hath ground of consolation in the 
greatest distress, but you have none. However sharp the 
rod of correction be to him, yet it is in the hand of a Father : 
but you have to do with an angry and sin-avenging God; 
and who may stand in his sight, if once he be angry ? for he 
commands both the first and second death, and he can cast 
you both into the grave and hell at once : " Hell followed 
the pale horse." Rev. 6 : 8. Death is the king of terrors, 
but hell is a thousand times more terrible. "When God 
afflicts his children, he stands to them in the relation of a 
loving Father; but he deals with you as an incensed Judge. 
Though he sees it necessary for their good to chastise them, 
yet he doth it with a relenting hand ; yea, every stroke goeth 
as it were to his heart. " In all their affliction he was af- 
flicted." Isa. 63 : 9. But when he ariseth to punish his 
incorrigible enemies, though they cry he hath no pity. "J 
will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear 
cometh." Prov. 1 : 26. 

2. If your sickness threaten you with death, what a 
dark and melancholy prospect must you have of your ap- 
proaching change. Why, 0 Christless soul, it is what you 
are wholly unprepared for. The old house falls down about 
your ears before you have another lodging provided. "When 
death casts you to the door, you have nowhere to lay your 
head, unless it be on a bed of fire and brimstone. 0 how 
surprising and fearful will the change be that death will 



110 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

make with you. A change from earth to hell, from light to 
darkness, from comforts to terrors, from hope to despair, from 
the offers of grace to the revelation of wrath ; a change from 
the society of saints on earth, to the company of the damned 
in hell, Whatever fond hopes of salvation you have now, 
your hopes shall lead you no further than to the king of 
terrors, and then " your hope shall be cut off, and your trust 
shall be a spider's web." Job 8:14. Though it costs you 
much pains to weave and support this web now, it will 
prove a weak and slender defence to your soul, when death 
comes with his besom of destruction and sweeps both you 
and it away to hell. You will then be taken from all the 
means of grace you have abused, and be for ever deprived 
of an opportunity of buying the oil of grace : your lamp 
shall go out at death, and never be lighted any more. 

3. In this extremity you have no quarter to look to for 
comfort. 0 Christless sinner, what will you do in the day 
of visitation ? To whom will you flee for help ? Your 
houses, your lands, your money, your honors, your compan 
ions, your relations will all be miserable comforters to you. 
Every thing will look black and dismal round about you. 
If you look without you for help, you may see your friends 
weeping and lamenting j^our case ; but this will do nothing 
but increase your vexation and misery. If you look within 
you for relief, conscience, that before you would not suffer 
to speak, will meet you with bitter stings and upbraidings 
It will bring to your view the sins you had forgotten, the 
time you have misspent, the health you have misimproved 
the offers of grace you have refused, the great salvation you 
have neglected. What folly was it for you to provoke God 
and slight Christ for a little worldly profit, or a little brutish 
pleasure ! Can these relieve you when the arrows of the 
Almighty stick within you, and the terrors of God do set 
themselves in array against thy soul ? In the mean time 
the devil, that tempted you to your soul-ruining course, will 



THE UNREGENERATE IN AFFLICTION. Ill 



step in and represent your sins in their blackest colors and 
aggravations, to render you altogether hopeless and despe- 
rate. 0 sinner, thou that refusest rest from Christ in the 
day of health and grace, shalt find no ease from created 
things in the day of sickness and death. Your sickness will 
allow no rest to your body, and your sin will permit no ease 
to your soul. You may expect the fulfilling of the threaten- 
ing in Deut. 28 : 65—67 : "The Lord shall give thee a trem- 
bling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. And 
thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear 
day and night. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God 
it were even ; and at even thou shalt say, Would God it 
were morning," because of the pain of thy body and anguish 
of thy spirit. 

Direction 2. Let uirregenerate persons carefully improve their 
sickness and affliction as means to further their conversion, 
and pray that God may bless it for that end. 

Many have begun their acquaintance with God and with 
themselves in the. time of affliction ; the furnace is frequently 
the Spirit's laboratory, where he forms his vessels of praise. 
There are many who, while health and strength continue, 
mind nothing but vain pleasures. One day they go to their 
games and sports, another day to their cups and lascivious 
company, another day to visiting their friends ; and thus 
they spend the whole time of their health and prosperity in 
sin and vanity. All the warnings, counsels, and exhorta- 
tions of parents, friends, and ministers, do them no good ; 
they cannot endure to entertain a serious thought of God or 
of Christ, of death, of heaven, or of hell, or judgment to 
come. But when God doth cast them into sickness or some 
great affliction, they, through the blessing of God, begin to 
com.3 to themselves like the prodigal, and think of returning 
again to their Father. Several instances to this purpose 
might be given. The earl of Rochester is a late one, whose 
life was notoriously lewd, profane, and atheistical, and who 



112 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



had wickedly employed his wit and talents to ridicule all 
religion ; yet when he was afflicted with pain and sickness, 
and brought to the gates of death, he began to entertain 
quite other apprehensions than he had done before ; he pro- 
fessed he had serious and reverend thoughts of religion and 
holiness, which before he laughed at ; he most earnestly and 
affectionately warned others to abandon their evil courses, 
and to live religiously and soberly, and to look upon religion 
as the greatest reality in the world ; he retracted all his 
impious and profane language wherewith he used to reflect 
on the ways of godliness, and willingly attested all this 
under his hand. 

Pray then for the divine blessing on your sickness, that 
it may contribute to the conversion of your soul, which it 
doth in several ways : 

1. By opening men's eyes to get a true sight of things, 
to behold religion in its true shape, and sin in its proper col- 
ors ; hence the rod is said to give wisdom. Prov. 29 : 15. 
They who have mocked at religion, and made light of sin 
all their days, have been taught by bodily sickness to change 
their tune. Then they begin to have an esteem of the Bible, 
and to value and send for pious ministers, and to desire the 
prayers of the people of God. Now they perceive sin to be 
bitter as gall and wormwood, they loathe and abhor that 
which they liked before ; now the word of God makes a 
deep impression on them, and particularly such a word as 
that in Jeremiah 2 : 19 : "Know therefore and see that it 
is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord 
thy God." 

2. Sickness helps to set the word preached home upon 
the heart. When God speaks to us in the day of health and 
prosperity, we often give him a deaf ear, Jer. 22 : 21 ; but 
when distress comes, it brings the words of God and of his 
ministers to our remembrance, as it brought Joseph to the 
remembrance of his brethren. Gen. 42 : 21. 



THE UNRZ GENERATE IN AFFLICTION. 113 



3. Sickness contributes to loosen a man's heart from the 
world, and to cool his love thereto ; whereby a great hinder- 
ance of conversion is removed out of the way, and the man 
is made to say, "How vain and helpless are the world's 
comforts to me now. Those things I delighted in formerly 
are tasteless to me at this time. There is no portion can 
suit my solil's needs but God himself." 

4. It spurs a man on to prayer that formerly neglected 
it. When the prodigal is brought to distress, he says, " I 
will arise and go to my father." He forgot his father before, 
but now he will address him. " In their affliction they will 
seek me early." Hosea 5 : 15. Thus the Lord frequently 
begins and promotes the conversion of souls to himself. And 
0 sinner, if this be the fruit of thy sickness, it will not be 
unto death, hut to the glory of God. 

Direction 3. Be careful to obey God's voice in the rod, and 
beware of slighting it. 

Every sickness hath a message from God, and his voice 
you ought to hearken to with reverence and attention. 
Micah 6:9. What saith he to you at this time ? 0 sin- 
ner, he saith, "Retire from the world, think on death and 
eternity, abhor those lusts and idols which God is smiting 
you for, flee speedily to the stronghold ; repent and be con- 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out." This is God's 
voice to you ; and consider hew provoking it will be to him 
if you slight it. 

1. You will provoke God to slight your voice when yon 
cry to him, and stop his ear against the voice of your sup- 
plications. Zech. 7 : 13. 

2. You will provoke God to cease from being a reprover 
to you, so that he will speak to you no more. 

3. You will provoke him to bring heavier judgments on 
you, yea, so to draw his sword of justice against you, that 
he will sheathe it no more, as he threatens, Ezek.21 : 5. 

4. God may break off all intercourse and correspond- 



114 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



once with you, as~with those addressed in Ezek. 20 : 3i . 
" As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of 
by you." 

5. He may seal you up for ever under your sins, hard- 
ness, and pollution, and say to you as to some we read of, 
"Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, 
thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till 1 
have caused my fury to rest upon thee." Ezek. 24 : 13. 
" Ephraim is joined to his idols ; let him alone." Hos. 4 : 17. 
"He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Rev. 22 : 11. 
He that is hardened against the voice of my rods, let him be 
hardened still. "Well then, 0 sinner, while God is speaking 
with you, hearken to his voice, and obey it; say, "Lord; 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" 

Direction 4. Cast back your eyes upon the sins of your past 
life, and labor to be deeply humbled for them before the 
Lord. 

Seeing you are summoned to prepare for going to the 
judgment-seat of God, where your soul is to receive its final 
sentence, labor to prevent the terror of that appearance by 
your judging yourself beforehand. And this you must do, 
by summoning yourself before the bar of conscience, exam- 
ining carefully into your state, accusing and condemning 
yourself for your sins. And see that you be impartial in 
this work, willing to know the truth, and discover the worst 
of your case. You must see and be duly sensible of your 
danger ; otherwise you cannot think to escape. Take a 
close view of your sins, in their nature, aggravations, and 
deservings. And in order to this, if you have any measure 
of strength for it, let the exposition of the ten command- 
ments in the catechism be distinctly read to you. Make a 
pause upon every question, and say within thyself, " Have 
I not omitted what is here required by God; and have I 
not committed what is here forbidden by God ? How oft 
have I repeated those sins ; how long have I lived in the 



THE UNREGENERATE IN AFFLICTION. 115 

practice of them. Oh, do not so many years' sins need a 
very serious repentance, a very deep humiliation ? Oh, doth 
not such a vile sinner as I stand greatly in need of Christ to 
be my ransom for such a vast number of sins ; will not their 
weight press me eternally down to the lowest hell, if they 
remain unpardoned, and be laid upon my head?" "Where- 
fore view them closely, and confess them particularly before 
God. 

1. Bewail thy original sin, the fountain of all thy ac- 
tual transgressions, as did David: "Behold, I was shapen 
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalm 
51 : 5. 

2. Acknowledge and mourn over the sinful outbreakings 
of thy life, whereby thou hast dishonored God and grieved 
his Holy Spirit ; and especially sins against light. 

3. Be humbled for thy sins of omission, for neglect of 
commanded duties ; particularly for the neglect of prayer in 
secret and of family religion. 

4. Mourn for the loss of precious time. Alas, for the 
time of youth misspent, the many Sabbath-days trifled 
away. 

5. Lament thy long slighting of Christ and salvation 
through his righteousness, which hath been so pressingly 
offered to thee in the gospel. 

6. Bewail thy stifling the convictions and quenching 
the motions of the Spirit, and thereby provoking him to 
depart from you. 

7. Mourn for thy unthankfulnes?: to God for mercies and 
deliverances, which might have piiured you to repentance 
and newness of life. 

8. Confess thy stubbornness under former afflictions, 
which hath nrovoked God to send new trials upon you. 

9. Be humbled for thy earthly-mindedness, in that thou 
hast ail thy days been careful and cumbered about many 
things, and hast neglected the one thing needful. 



116 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

10. Mourn for the lateness of thy repentance, and tny 
amazing folly in delaying so long to bethink thyself and 
turn to the Lord. " 0 how unwisely have I acted, to mis- 
spend the time of health, and delay so great a work till 
now that I am laid on a sick-bed ; and now, if I die before 
I am converted, I am lost for ever. 0 Lord, I am ashamed 
and confounded at my madness and folly, and have no ex- 
cuse to plead for myself, but must stand afar off with the 
poor publican, and smite upon my breast and cry, ' God be 
merciful to me a sinner.' " 

Direction 5. Flee immediately to Jesus Christ by a true faith, 
and close with him as offered to you in the gospel. 

Art thou sensible, 0 sinner, of thy grievous guilt and 
ill-deservings before God? Then do not despair; for Jesus 
Christ, who hath offered to divine justice an all-sufficient 
sacrifice for sin, is offering himself to thee, saying, " 0 dis- 
tressed sinner, look unto me and be saved. Turn unto me ; 
why will you die? Come unto me, heavy-laden soul, and I 
will give you rest. Him that cometh to me, I will in no- 
wise cast out." Will not such gracious words, such moving 
calls, melt thy heart within thee, and make thee cry to him, 
" Lord Jesus, I flee to thee as my refuge for deliverance from 
sin and protection from the wrath to come. I look to thy 
wounds, I trust in thy righteousness, I depend on thy merit, 
I lie at thy feet : and this I am resolved to do as long as I 
have breath to draw in the world," 

Direction 6. Call for the elders of the church, that they may 
pray over you in your sickness. 

This is the apostle James' direction to the sick, James 
5 : 14 ; he doth not say, if any be sick let him send for the 
physicians, but for the elders or ministers. 

It is true, physicians are to be called, but not in the first 
place, It was Asa's fault that in his disease he sought not 
to the Lord, but to the physicians ; and, alas, how many 



THE UNRE GENERATE IN AFFLICTION. 117 



follow his example. Ministers are only called for in the last 
place, and very often when the time is past, the sick being 
at the point of death and scarcely able to speak or hear. 
But if you desire to reap benefit by the instructions and 
prayers of ministers, call for them early, and open your case 
to them ; seek their counsel and beg for their prayers. It is 
their office to teach and pray for you, and they have author- 
ity to offer salvation to you through Christ, and to minister 
comfort to them that are cast down ; wherefore a blessing 
may be expected on their ministrations and performances 
more than others. Hence God said to Abimelech of Abra 
ham, "He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee." Gen. 
20 : 7. And to Job's friends concerning Job, " Go to my 
servant Job, and he shall pray for you; for him will I ac- 
cept ; lest I deal with you after your folly." Job' 42 : 8. 

And lastly, remember that as the apostle James enjoins 
the sick to call for the elders to pray over them, so at the 
same time he directs you to confess your faults one to an- 
other, Christian to Christian, one friend to another, the peo- 
ple to their minister. James 5:16. Not that this gives 
any warrant to the papists for auricular confession to their 
priests, which they force upon all men as a satisfaction for 
sin, and whereby they rack their consciences, when they feel 
no distress, to confess their most secret sins, to enumerate 
them all under pain of damnation, and which they use as a 
device to dive into the secrets of princes, states, and all pri- 
vate persons. But, as Luther, Calvin, Beza, and many or- 
thodox divines do teach, it is very profitable and necessary 
for those that are inwardly troubled with a sense of their 
sins, to ease and disburden their consciences by confession to 
the faithful ministers of Christ, in order to receive from them 
suitable counsels and consolations, such as Christ hath left 
in his word for contrite-hearted penitents. 

Thus let every man in sickness Use all appointed means 
for preparing his soul for a future state. Thy preparation 



118 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



will by no means hasten death, but sweeten it to you. Death 
must surely have a most formidable aspect to an unprepared 
sinner: he may salute it as Ahab did Elijah, "Hast thou 
found me, 0 mine enemy?" Why? it brings heavy and 
doleful tidings to him. But a prepared soul may salute 
death, "Welcome, 0 my friend, thou bringest me tidings oi 
great joy ; everlasting deliverance from sin and all the bitter 
fruits of it. I shall never complain of these any more 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



119 



CHAPTER Y. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD "WHEN THE LORD IS 
PLEASED TO RECOVER THEM FROM SICKNESS AND DIS- 
TRESS. 

Direction 1. Ij is very proper, both under sickness and after it, 
to examine if the affliction he sanctified to you, and hath 
come from the love of God. 

It would be very comforting for. us to know that the 
afflictions which God visits us with, are riot the punishment 
of a judge, but the chastisement of a father — that they do 
not proceed from wrath, but from love — that they are not 
curses, but blessings to us. Now the best way of knowing 
this, is by the effects which they produce in us, through the 
blessing of God. 

1. Canst thou say that thy affliction hath humbled thee 
in the sight of God, and made thee confess and bewail thy 
sins and strayings from God as the procuring cause thereof? 
Hath it been like Moses' rod that smote the rock and drew 
out much water? Did you water your couch with tears, 
and mourn humbly before God for all thy God-provoking 
sins ? Then it is a good sign that sickness is sanctified. 

2. Doth thy affliction drive thee nearer God, and cause 
thee to aim at closer communion with God in duty than 
formerly, saying, " However careless and formal I have 
been in duty in time past, it is surely good for me now to 
draw near to God ?" Then thy sickness is a blessing to 
thee. 

3. Affliction is sanctified when the corruption and de- 
ceitfulness of the heart is the more discovered and laid open 
to the view of the soul, so that the man is made to abhor 
himself in dust and ashes, and cry out like the leper, "'Un- 
clean, imclean !' I never could have thought my heart was 
so wicked as now I see it." 

4. It is a sanctified sickness, that purgeth the heart and 



£20 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



changeth the life, and gives a death-stroke to thy sins and 
idols, and makes thee to loathe and abhor them more than 
ever, saying with Ephraim, "What have I to do any more 
with idols ?" 

5. It is a blessed rod when graces are more quickened 
and stirred up thereby, and the man turns more fruitful in 
holy duties and good works ; then it is a budding and blos- 
soming rod like to Aaron's. Numbers 17. It is recorded 
there of Aaron's rod, that it brought forth buds, blooming 
blossoms, and yielding almonds. So it is happy with us 
when our rods and sickness not only produce in us the buds 
of a profession, and the blossoms of some beginnings of a 
reformation, but even cause us to yield fruits savory to God. 
Is conscience become more tender with respect to sin ? Are 
we more jealous over our hearts ? Are we more fervent in 
prayer, more lively in praise, more mortified to the world, 
more desirous of communion with God ? Then may we say 
with David, " It is good for us that we have been afflicted ;" 
and with Hezekiah, " Thou hast, in love to my soul, deliv- 
ered it from the pit of corruption." 

Direction 2. Make conscience of offering to God the sacrifice of 
thanksgiving, upon his recovering thee from sickness or any 
distress. 

The psalmist gives us this direction from God, Psalm 
50 : 14, 15 ; and he shows us that it was his own practice 
in such a case, Psalm 116 : 17, and 103 : 1, 2, 3. The com- 
mand is just, let us obey it; the example is excellent, let 
us imitate it. Praise is comely for the upright. Here I 
shall give some motives to thanksgiving. 

1. God, who is the author of all thy mercies and deliv- 
erances, gives you tongues for this very end, that you may 
bless and praise him for these mercies. James 3:9. Hence 
man's tongue is called his glory above the rest of the crea- 
tures. Psalm 57 : 8. There is none in the earth so endued 
and qualified for praising God as man is. Beasts have 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



121 



tongues, but without speech or reason to use them ; but man 
hath both reason and speech, that he may both admire God's 
goodness, and with his tongue sound forth God's praise. 
See then, 0 believer, that you use your tongue to answer the 
end of your creation. God expects his due revenue of praise 
from his children, whom he hath formed for this end, and on 
whom he hath bestowed many distinguishing favors. 

2. The sacrifice of thanksgiving is most pleasing and 
acceptable to God. He loves your tears and prayers, 0 be- 
liever, but much more your praises. How well pleased was 
our Lord with the poor Samaritan leper that returned and 
gave him thanks for curing his bodily distemper. Luke 
17 : 19. He dismissed him with a special blessing, and 
cured him of his soul's diseases as well as of his body's. 
And therefore, 

3. Consider that thankfulness for thy mercies received 
is a most profitable course for yourself; for it is the way to 
get more and better blessings bestowed upon you, according 
to Psalm 67 : 5, 6 : "Let the people praise thee, 0 God ; let 
all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her 
increase ; and God, even our own God, shall bless us." 
Thanksgi ving for former mercies is a kindly way of petition- 
ing for new favors, and God will understand it in this sense. 

4. God is so well pleased with the duty of thanksgiving, 
that he honors it to be the eternal work of heaven ; whereas 
other graces, such as faith, hope, and repentance, will then 
be melted into love and joy for ever ; so other duties of wor- 
ship, such as reading, hearing, and prayer, will then be 
changed into that of praise and thanksgiving. The glorified 
company above will never be weary of this work ; and shall 
not we delight in it now, when God is calling us to it by so 
many new mercies ? 

And that thou mayest offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving 
to God for thy recovery with gracious acceptance, I shall lay 
before you the following advices : 

Affl. Man's Comp. 6 



122 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



1. See that your heart be touched with a sense of the 
greatness of the mercy, and of the goodness of God mani 
fested therein. We must put a due value upon our mercies, 
and have our hearts affected with God's kind dealing tow- 
ards us in them, if we would be rightly thankful to God the 
author of them. Hence it was that David called upon his 
heart, and all within him, to bless the Lord for his benefits 
Psalm 103 : 1 ; and in Psalm 138 : 1, he saith, " I will praise 
thee with my whole heart." As an instrument of music is 
the sweeter the more full and rich its volume of sound, so 
our praise is the more acceptable to God when the heart is 
full of gracious affections. 

2. Let your praise be the result of genuine faith and love 
in your soul, otherwise it will be an empty sound. Faith is 
necessary to draw the veil, and show us the perfections of the 
invisible God, who is the spring and author of all our mercies ; 
love gives a deep sense of his goodness, enlarges the heart 
towards God, and opens the lips to show forth his praise. 

3. Study to have a deep sense of your own un worthiness 
and ill desert at the Lord's hand on account of your sins, 
and ill improvement of former deliverances, saying with 
Jacob, " I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies." 
Gen. 32 : 10. 

4. Look above instruments and second causes, and do 
not ascribe your recovery to physicians or outward means, 
but to the Lord, the prime author of it, whose blessing 
alone it is that gives efficacy and success to the appointed 
means, and by whose mercy only we are spared, and brought 
back from the gates of the grave, To this the apostle attrib- 
utes Epaphroditus' recovery : " Indeed, he was sick nigh 
unto death, but God had mercy on him." . Phil. 2 : 27. 
Hence we are told, "The Lord bringeth down to the grave, 
and bringeth up." 1 Sam. 2:6. 

5. Observe closely the remarkable circumstances of the 
Lord's goodness, and the sweet ingredients of thy mercies 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



123 



As, for instance, how discernible the Lord's hand was ia thy 
deliverance, which obligeth thee to say, Surely this is the 
finger of God ; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous 
in mine eyes : how thy deliverance came to thee as the 
return of prayer, that makes thee say, Surely he is a prayer* 
hearing God : how deliverance came when there was but 
little ground to hope for it, See how Hezekiah observed 
this ingredient in his recovery from sickness : " I said, in the 
cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave ; 
I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall 
not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living ; 
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the 
world." Isa. 38:10, 11. "What shall I say? he hath 
both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it," Verse 15. 
Sometimes God sends deliverances to his people when they 
are most hopeless, and saying, with the captives of Babylon, 
" Behold, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost ; we 
are cut off for our parts." Ezek. 37 : 11. Hemember, also, 
how the extremity of thy distress was God's opportunity of 
sending relief. Abraham never forgot the seasonableness of 
God's appearing for him in his extreme need upon mount 
Moriah, when he called the name of the place Jehovah- 
jireh, for preserving the memorial of it : " In the mount of 
the Lord it will be seen." So doth David, " 1 was brought 
low, and he helped me." Psalm 116 : 6. 

6. Let the present deliverance bring all former mercies 
to thy remembrance, that so thou mayest praise God for 
them all, whether they be national or personal mercies, 
public or private, spiritual or temporal. New mercies should 
revive the memory of the old, and all of them should be re- 
membered at such a time ; so doth the psalmist direct, " Sing 
unto the Lord ; talk ye of all his wondrous works." Psalm 
105 : 2. And what he directs others to, he himself prac- 
tises : " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his bene- 
fits towards me?" Psalm 116:12. 



124 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



7. Be ready to communicate to others an account of the 
Lord's kind dealings towards you, and the sweet ingredients 
of his mercies; and particularly of his sending spiritual de- 
liverance to your soul, as well as outward deliverance to 
your body, when he is pleased to do so. And do this in 
order to recommend the service of God to others, and to in- 
Trite and engage them to assist you in blessing and praising 
the Lord. -W e see how David observed his soul deliverances, 
Psalm 116 : 7, 8, and declares his experience to others: "I 
will declare thy name unto my brethren ; in the midst of the 
congregation will I praise thee." Psalm 22 : 22. c< Come 
and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he 
hath done for my soul." Psalm 66 : 16. 

.8. [Remember always to give thanks for mercies to the 
Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as directed in 
Eph. 5 : 20. Your spiritual sacrifices are only acceptable to 
God when you offer them up by Jesus Christ. 1 Peter, 
2:5. As we must seek all our mercies in Christ's name, so 
we must give thanks for them also in his name. . He is the 
Mediator of our praises, as well as our prayers: believers 
have not one mercy but what comes swimming to them in 
Christ's blood, and is the fruit of his death and purchase to 
them ; and therefore he is to be owned and looked to in the 
receiving of every mercy. And as Christ is the only medi- 
ator for conveying blessings and mercies from God to us, so 
he is the sole mediator for conveying all our services and 
spiritual sacrifices to God. God accepts of them only as 
they are perfumed by Christ's meritorious sacrifice and po- 
tent intercession. 

Direction 3. When the Lord is pleased to grant tliee any signal 
mercy or deliverance from trouble, beware of forgetting the 
Lord's kindness towards thee. 

Forgetting of God's remarkable kind providences is an 
evil we are naturally prone to when we are in a prosperous 
state. Hence it is that the Spirit of God gives so many 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



125 



cautions against it in his word ; and the saints of God do so 
solemnly charge their own souls to beware of it, as in Psalm 
103 : 2 : "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his 
benefits; who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy 
life from destruction." Forget not his benefits, but carefully 
preserve and treasure them up in thy memory. It was usual 
for saints under the Old Testament to set up some visible 
monument to remind them of God'^ singular favors to them ; 
they erected stones and built altars to be memorials of the 
mercies they received, and put names on the places for this 
end. Let all this teach you to guard against this evil of 
forgetting the Lord's kind providence in recovering you from 
sickness. 

You are guilty of this evil when you do not duly value 
the mercy, but let it pass as a turn of common providence. 
When you let the impression of the mercy soon wear oil" 
from your hearts ; when you make a bad use of it, or do 
not rightly improve it to God's glory and your own soul's 
good ; when you do not put on new resolutions to walk 
more exactly, live more fruitfully, and serve God more ho- 
lily and humbly, then are you guilty of forgetting his ben- 
efits. 

This is an evil most grievous and provoking to a good 
and gracious God, as is evident from the many complaints 
he makes of his people for it, as in Judges 8 : 34 ; Psalm 
78:11; 106: 13. "Wherefore watch and pray against it. 

Direction 4. Inquire after those fruits of righteousness which 
are the genuine effects of affliction in the children of God, 
who are duly exercised thereby. 

The apostle speaks of these fruits as naturally following 
upon sanctified afflictions, and a kindly exercise of spirit un- 
der them. Heb. 12 : 11. And therefore it is your duty to 
inquire if they be produced in you. 

1. The increase of true repentance is one of these fruits 
which is the product of sanctified trials. Job found it in 



126 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



himself on the back of his affliction: ""Wherefore I abhor 
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42 : 6. It 
would be happy if we could find our hearts more soft and 
melting on. the view of sin, after we have been in the fur- 
nace of affliction. 

2. Another fruit is the improvement of faith. The 
afflicted heliever is taught to look to, and depend more upon 
God for help in time of need, and less upon the creature. 
He now sees that vain is the help of man in the day of ca- 
lamity, and that God in Christ is the only proper object of 
the soul's trust. This was the fruit of the apostle's afflic- 
tion : "We were pressed out of measure, above strength, in- 
somuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the 
sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in 
ourselves, but in G od that raiseth the dead ; who delivered 
us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we 
trust that he will yet deliver." 2 Cor. 1 : 8-10. 

3. Humility and low thoughts of ourselves is another of 
the fruits of righteousness which sanctified affliction doth 
yield. How proud and lofty was Nebuchadnezzar before he 
was afflicted. Dan. 4 : 29, 30. But afterwards he is made 
to own God, and humbly submit to him as his supreme and 
almighty Sovereign, and to acknowledge that those who walk 
in pride he is able to abase. Verse 37. This was God's de- 
sign in the various trials of his people Israel in the wilder- 
ness : " That he might humble thee, that he might prove 
thee, to do thee good at thy latter end." Deut. 8:16. See 
then, 0 believer, if this fruit be produced in thee. 

4. Another fruit is the spirit of prayer and supplication. 
This was visible in the psalmist's case, after God had de- 
livered him from the sorrows of death, and heard his voice : 
"Therefore," says he, "will I call upon him as long as I 
live." Psalm 116:2. 0, saith the true believer, God's 
mercy to me in trouble, and his sending me relief when I 
cried to him, will make me love prayer the better, and en- 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



127 



gage me to be more diligent in it all my days; for I still 
see I have daily need of his helping hand. 

5. Heavenly-mindedness is also a fruit of sanctified afflic- 
tion. Before, the man was inclined to say, It is good for us 
to be here ; let us build tabernacles in this lower world. 
But now he changeth his language and his thoughts, and 
saith, It is good for me to draw nigh to God. Arise, let us 
depart ; this is not our rest. This world is nothing but the 
house of our pilgrimage ; heaven only is our home. 

6. Another fruit of sanctified trials is greater love to 
God than formerly. How much was David's heart warmed 
with love and gratitude to God after his affliction, so that he 
wants words to express the affections of his soul. "I will 
love the Lord because he hath Ijeard my voice. I was 
brought low, and he helped me. Thou hast delivered my 
soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from 
falling. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his bene- 
fits towards me?" Psalm 116 : 1, 6, 8, 12. 

7. Learning and keeping of God's word is likewise a 
fruit of sanctified affliction. Psalm 119 : 67, 71. Let us 
inquire if this fruit be produced in us after sickness. Do we 
attend to the word more closely; do we believe it more 
firmly ; do we embrace its offers more earnestly ; and do 
we live more in the expectation of that glory which the 
word doth reveal to us? Then it is good for us that we 
have been afflicted; for we have learned more of God's 
word. 

8 Tenderness of conscience is a happy fruit of sanctified 
tiouble; when the believer, after it, becomes exceedingly 
afraid of sin, and of making new wounds in his conscience. 
He cannot think of adventuring again upon any known sin ; 
for the smart of former wounds, and the pain they occasioned 
in his soul, when distress lay upon him, makes a deep and 
lasting impression on his mind, as it did on the afflicted 
church : " Remembering mine affliction and my misery, 



128 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



the wormwood and the gall : my soul hath them still in re- 
membrance, and is humbled in me." Lam. 3 : 19, 20. Now 
such fruits of righteousness are an evidence that we have 
been suitably exercised under affliction. 0 to find them pro- 
duced in us after sickness is over. 

Direction 5. Be careful to perform those resolutions, engage- 
ments, or vows you have come under in the time of sickness, 
and walk suitably to them. 

As a time of sickness and affliction is a proper season for 
making vows to God, and binding our souls with resolutions 
to mortify sin in the heart, and purge it away from the life, 
to be diligent in duty, and to walk more humbly with God," 
so a time of recovery from sickness is a proper season for pay- 
ing and performing the^g vows. This was the royal psalm- 
ist's practice in such a case. " I was brought low, and he 
helped me. Truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant. I 
will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I will pay 
my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his peo- 
ple." Psalm 116 : 6, 16-18. Now, for your assistance in 
this matter, I offer you these few advices : 

1. Defer not to pay your vows, but be speedy, and take 
the first opportunity to pay them. Delays in this case are 
most dangerous. Solomon, that wise man, was sensible of 
this, which made him give thee this advice : " "When thou 
vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it." Eccles. 5:4 

2. Be still jealous of thy heart, which is prone to deal 
treacherously with God after affliction is over. The Israel- 
ites' practice is a sad instance of this truth : " When he slew 
them, then they sought him ; and they returned and inquir- 
ed early after God. Nevertheless, they did flatter him with 
■Jheir mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues ; for 
their heart was not right with him, neither were they stead- 
fast in his covenant." Psalm 78 : 34-37. The purposes of 
many in affliction are like the vows of mariners in a storm : 
they are the first things which they forget and break when 



) 



BELIEVERS RECOVERED. 



129 



once they win safe to the shore. However patient some, 
may seem to be in sickness, yet when they recover from it, 
they soon return to their old sins again. They are like 
metals in a furnace, that melt and turn liquid while in it, 
but when out soon return to their old hardness. There is 
good reason for that caution the Lord gives us in Mai. 2:16: 
" Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treach- 
erously." 

3. Cry continually for strength from above to enable you 
to perform your vows. The psalmist took this course, and 
found it successful : "In the day when I cried, thou answer- - 
edst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." 
Psalm 138 :3. And forget not, 0 believer, that God has 
treasured up strength for thee in thy head and surety Christ 
Jesus ; wherefore be still receiving from him, for the perform- 
ing of all thy engagements. " My son, be strong in the grace 
that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 2:1. Put thy treacherous 
heart in thy Surety's hand ; for though thou art weak, yet thy 
Redeemer is strong. "Whenever therefore you perceive your 
heart begin to start aside from God, be sure to check it, and 
look up to God in Christ for strength to secure you against 
its treachery and perfidious dealing : cry with the psalmist, 
" Be surety for thy servant for good." 

4. Guard diligently against thy predominant sin, the sin 
that hath most easily beset thee, the sin that was most bit- 
ter and uneasy to thee in the day of distress. Keep a nar- 
row eye upon it now ; for if once that sin be vanquished, the 
rest will the more easily be put to flight. 

5. Be frequently meditating on thy vows, and on the 
condition thou wast in when they were made ; and study to 
keep alive in thy heart the same apprehension of things after 
sickness, which thou hadst in the time of it. How vain and 
comfortless did the world and its vanities then appear to 
thee ; how awful were the truths of God on thy spirits ; how 
far pieferable was the loving-kindness of God to thee than 

6* 



130 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



life ; how precious was Christ then in thy ey es. 0 that your 
judgment, thoughts, and impressions of these things may 
continue still the same. 

6. Keep vivid your impressions of the preciousness of 
time, that you may diligently improve it; and shake off 
sloth and idleness. Remember what a view you got in the 
time of sickness of long-lasting eternity ; and what a trouble 
it was to you to look back and see how much time you had 
lost in sin and vanity. When sometimes we are brought to 
the brink of eternity, the near views we then get of its 
vastness and un change ableness are frequently so awful and 
amazing to us, that we are ready to think, though we had 
Methuselah's years to live, it would be unreasonable wilfully 
to misspend one hour of them all. "Well, then, is sickness 
over, our time so short, and so little of it remaining behind : 
will we be so foolish as to be lavish of it still, and trifle it 
away as before ? 

7. Set a special mark upon all those sins, whether of 
omission or commission, that made death look grim and 
ghastly upon you in the time of sickness, and against which 
you resolved ; and see to get every one of them amended 
and removed. Remember and consider how sad it will be 
for you, if sickness find you again in the very same sins 
which formerly stung you. What will you say to conscience, 
when it shall challenge you ? How will you look death in 
the face, if it should find you living in the very same sins 
you formerly mourned for, and promised against? Death 
would then be the king of terrors to thy soul indeed. 

0 then mind thy vows, and say with the psalmist, "Thy 
vows are upon me, 0 God ; I will render praises unto thee. 
For thou hast delivered my soul from death : wilt not thou 
deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in 
the light of the living ?" Psalm 56 : 12, 13. 



THE UN REGENERATE RESTORED. 



131 



CHAPTER YI. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE UNREGENERATE WHEN RECOVERED 
FROM SICKNESS AND RESTORED TO HEALTH. 

Direction 1. Seeing the afflictions of tlie wicked are unsancti- 
fied, it is necessary you examine what sort of affliction yours 
hath been, and what fruits it hath produced in you. 

I have ill the preceding chapter showed that the afflic 
tions of believers are fatherly chastisements, proceeding from 
love ; that they are sanctified, and yield the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness : I have given the marks of sanctified afflic- 
tions, and mentioned the happy fruits which they produce in 
t^e children of God. 

On the other hand, it is necessary to let Christless per- 
sons know, that their afflictions are of a different kind : they 
are even punishments from God as a judge, proceeding from 
wrath ; they are unsanctified to them, and produce no fruits 
but what are bitter and unwholesome. 

Well then, 0 Christless soul, hast thou reason to suspect 
the worst concerning thy sickness ; that it hath not been 
sanctified, and its fruits are not good ? 0 then labor to know 
the truth of the matter, that thou mayest be humble under 
a sense of thy misery, and flee to Jesus Christ for relief. 
And for thy assistance in this inquiry, I will give some marks 

OF UN SAN C TTFIED AFFLICTIONS. 

1. If sickness hath not humbled thee under a sense of 
thy sins, the procuring cause thereof, nor any wise weakened 
sin in thee, nor reclaimed thee from it, but it remain eth in 
thee as strong as ever, it is a sign thy affliction is unsancti- 
fied. This was the case of those of whom God complaineth 
in Jer. 2:30: "In vain have I smitten your children ; they 
received no correction." As if he had said, The medicine I 
gave them did not purge out sin, nor weaken corruption m 
the least. They have been stricken, but have not grieved 



132 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION 



for sin ; the fire hath burnt round about them, but they have 
not laid to heart the sin that kindled the flame. 

2. It is a mark of unsanctified affliction when it hath 
no influence upon a sinner to bring him to serious commun- 
ing with his own heart concerning the state of his soul, and 
to inquire in what terms he stands with God that afflicts 
him. God's voice by affliction is that in Hag. 1:7," Con- 
sider your ways." In the day of adversity consider where 
you are, what you are, what you have done, and what is 
the meaning of the rod, and what will be the issue of it 
through eternity, in- case it hath a commission to cut the 
thread of life. Now when a man remains stupid and care- 
less about these important matters, and never noticeth the 
voice of affliction, so as to inquire seriously about his soul's 
condition : " Am I under a covenant of works, or a covenant 
of grace ? Am I a child of God ? Have I fled to the city 
of refuge, or am I still in a shelterless state ? Am I still 
under a cloud of wrath, or am I brought under the banner 
of love?" — I say, where there are no such inquiries, the 
affliction is unsanctified. 

3. It is a certain sign of unsanctified affliction when a 
person grows worse by it, and revolts the more the longer he 
is stricken, like those in Isa. 1:5. 

Question. When may it be said that a person grow? 
worse by affliction ? 

Answer 1. "When the sinner's heart turns harder than 
it was before : so every plague on Egypt increased the plague 
of hardness in Pharaoh's heart. It fares with many hearts 
as with iron that is often heated in the fire and quenched in 
the water, it still increaseth in hardness. 2. When a per- 
son giveth way to impatience and murmuring against God 
while he afflicts him. 3. When the lusts of the heart grow 
strong and impetuous, and afterwards rage the more for 
having been stopped in their course by affliction. In such 
cases, a person grows worse by the rod. 



THE UNHEG-ENEEAIE RESTORED, 



133 



Direction 2. Consider the great danger of not being made bet- 
ter by sickness, and of not complying with the voice of God's 
rod. 

God's voice by his rod doth loudly call sinners to repent 
and flee to the Lord Jesus Christ for refuge from wrath. 
Now, when this voice is not hearkened to, but men go on 
in their reckless and sinful course as before, God is highly 
provoked, and the issue will be terrible. For,' 

1 . Though sickness be removed, and the furnace of afflic- 
tion be cooled for the time, yet the wrath that kindled it 
continues still to burn. And you have ground to fear lest 
you be ranked among those who are the generation of God's 
wrath, against whom he will have indignation for ever. 

2. If lesser rods do not awaken you, you may expect 
greater and sorer judgments are coming on you. Yea, God 
may cause them to come rolling thick upon you, as waves 
and billows in a storm, one upon the neck of another. The 
great depths, both above and below, may be opened together ; 
the displeasure of God, and wrath of men, may conspire and 
meet to pour themselves as water-spouts upon you at once ; 
and to whom then will you look for help ? 

3. The Lord may give over dealing with you, or using 
any further means to reclaim you»; he may refuse to correct 
you any more, or to bestow a rod upon you for your good, and 
may say of you, as of Ephraim, " Ephraim is joined to idols ; 
let him alone." Hos. 4 : 17. 

4. The Lord may give you up to spiritual plagues and 
judgments ; and indeed this commonly is the result of obsti- 
nacy and incorrigibleness under outward rods. When Israel 
would not hearken to God's voice, he gave them up to their 
own hearts' lusts. Psalm 81 : 11, 12. Now, these plagues 
are the severest of all. External judgments are God's rods, 
but spiritual judgments are his swords, which pierce the 
very soul. Blindness of mind, hardness of heart, searedness 
of conscience, vile affections, and a reprobate sense, are the 



134 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



very forerunners of hell and damnation. Those who are 
impenitent and unfruitful under outward afflictions, have 
cause to tremble lest God be provoked to inflict these spirit- 
ual judgments. 

5. Be assured, though God spare you long, yet the glass 
of his forbearance will at length run out. God's patience 
towards sinners hath a term and bound which it will not 
pass. The time will come when a long-suffering God will 
at last say, "My Spirit shall no longer strive;" and the 
angel will cry, as in Rev. 14 : 7, " The hour of God's judg- 
ment is come." You that abuse God's patience and pre- 
sume upon it, his treaty of peace will end with you in a 
little, and the master of the house will rise up and shut to 
the door. Then patience will come do wn, and justice will 
ascend the stage and trample upon and triumph over all 
that abuse divine patience. Sodom was a wonder of God's 
patience for a long time ; but now it is a lasting monument 
of his anger. 

6. If you be not made better by God's rods or sparing 
mercies, then your preservation at present will be nothing but 
a reservation for the day of God's wrath. And the longer 
your cup of sin is in filling, the fuller shall the cup of God's 
wrath be for you : by your impenitence and abuse of God's 
patience, you treasure up wrath for yourself against the day 
of wrath, Rom. 2:4; and though you be delivered from 
some judgments, you are reserved for worse, yea, seven times 
worse, according to Lev. 26 : 23, 24. Nay, there is a fatal 
blow designed against you, both soul and body, as soon as 
your cup is full ; and the axe is already laid at the root of 
the tree. Matt. 3:10. One blow of God's axe will cut you 
off for ever. 

Remember this, 0 sinner; though God's hand be lifted 
off you at present, and his messenger death be for a little 
recalled, yet he will quickly return and knock so loud at 
your door as not to be refused. And what will you do in 



THE UNE.EG-ENEB.ATE RESTORED. 135 

the day of visitation ? How ghastly must the pale horse be, 
when hell follows him at the heels ; and how hot and fiery 
must that hell be, which is inflamed and blown up by so 
long impenitence and abuse of patience. 

Direction 3. Wonder at the patience of God in sparing such 
hell-deserving sinners as you are, and be thankful for it. 

Hath a long-suffering God preserved the thread of your 
life, when it was almost snapt asunder by the violence of 
sickness ? Hath he freed you from racking pains, under 
which you were groaning ; nay, saved you from the grave 
and hell, into which you were falling ? And have you not 
cause of wondering and thanksgiving ? To move you to it, 
consider these few things : 

1. How miserable had you been through all eternity, if 
your sickness had carried you off to another world in your 
sins. You had been howling with damned spirits, under 
endless and easeless torments, and for ever cut off from 
those hopes and offers of mercy you now have. Then the 
master of .the house would have had the door so barred 
'against you that it could never have been opened again to 
you, knock as you would. Luke 13 : 25. 

2. Consider how heavily you have burdened his patience 
with your heinous sins, and frequent relapses thereinto ; and 
that after convictions, calls, and various rods, sent to reclaim 
you ; so that he was put to say, as in Amos 2 : 13, "Behold, 
I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of 
sheaves.*' He was overburdened with your sins, so that the 
axle-tree of patience was ready to break and let you fall into 
hell, and yet, behold, he bears with you still. 

3. Consider how soon he could have eased himself ol 
the load, and shaken you off into the pit of destruction. In 
a moment he could have done it, and yet he bears many 
years with your sins that are so grievous to him. Yea, it is 
with a sort of reluctance that he eases himself of sinners, 



136 



AFFLICTED MAN'S . COMPANION. 



after he gets the utmost provocation. "Ah, I will ease me 
of mine adversaries." Isa. 1 : 24. 

4. How ready he is to turn away his anger, and reprieve 
sinners from destruction, when in their distress they make 
even a show of repentance and turning unto God, as we see 
in Psalm 78 : 36, 38. He, like a tender-hearted prince, 
calls back the warrant for their execution, after it had gone 
forth. 

5. Consider how much many Christless sinners are in- 
debted to Jesus Christ for sparing mercy. He is represented 
by the vine-dresser interceding that the fruitless fig-tree might 
be spared and tried yet longer, after orders given to cut it 
down. Luke 13. Were it not for Jesus Christ, 0 sinner, 
however much you forget and slight him, you had surely 
been in hell long ere now. How oft doth he obtain another 
year, and after that another, for the unfruitful sinner and 
unthankful abuser of divine patience. 

6. Consider how sparing mercy hath distinguished you 
from many others, w r ho lived not so long, nor sinned so much 
as you have done. God hath wounded the hairy scalp of 
many and taken them aw T ay in their youth, when he hath 
continued you to manhood, and perhaps to old-age, though 
your sins and ill-deservings be greater than those of many 
on whom be hath long since taken vengeance. 

God hath left many also tossing and groaning on beds of 
pain, when he hath eased and raised you up. 0 then return 
like the thankful leper, and magnify the God of your health. 
Hath God distinguished you from others by his goodness ? It 
becomes you to distinguish yourselves from others by your 
thankfulness. 0 that men would praise the Lord for his 
goodness — undeserved and distinguishing goodness. 

To move you to this, let me set the example of Hezekiah 
before you. See how thankfully and affectionately he re- 
membered the Lord's mercies in recovering and delivering 
him from the bitter affliction he had been under : I said, I 



THE UNRE GENE RATE RESTORED. 13/ 



am deprived of the residue of my years ; I shall behold man 
no more with the inhabitants of the world. Like a crane 
or a swallow, so did I chatter ; I did mourn as a dove. Be- 
hold, for peace I had great bitterness ; but thou hast in love 
to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. The liv- 
ing shall praise thee, as I do this day." Yea, he was so 
overcome with a sense of the Lord's patience and mercy 
towards him, that he is at a loss how to express it. "What 
shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and himself 
hath done it." Isa. 38 : 9-20. 

Let all who are recovered from sickness study to imitate 
that good king in holy admiration and thankfulness to the 
God of their life. 

Direction 4. Study to improve the sparing mercy and goodness 
of God to you in a right and suitable maimer. 

0 sinner, hath God brought you back from the gates of 
death and brink of hell, restored you to health, and given 
you a new offer of mercy and salvation through Christ in a 
preached gospel, which you formerly despised? Strive now 
to improve the Lord's patience and kind dealings towards 
you with the utmost care, and abuse his patience no longer. 
And in order thereto, take the following counsels : 

1. Be deeply humbled for your former obstinacy and 
impenitence, notwithstanding God's gracious and patient 
dealing. 0 let the sparing mercy and goodness of God tow- 
ards thee lead thee to repentance, which is the chief design 
of it, according to Rom. 2:4: "Despisest thou the riches 
of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing 
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ?" As 
if he had said, "Dost thou not see, 0 man, the kind provi- 
dence of God in sparing and recovering thee from sickness, 
taking thee by the hand, and pointing out to thee to go to 
thy closet to mourn and weep for all thy past sins, and par- 
ticularly for thy misspending the time of health, and abusing 



138 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



the Lord's patience?" The consideration of David's good- 
ness and forbearance towards Saul melted Saul's heart, hard 
and rugged as it was, and made him lift up his voice and 
weep, and say to David, "Thou art more righteous than I; 
for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded 
thee evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou 
hast dealt well with me ; forasmuch as when the Lord had 
delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. For 
if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away ?" 
1 Sam. 24 : 17-19. Oh, far more reason hast thou, 0 man, 
to weep and cry, "God hath found me his enemy, yea, in 
my enmity and sins, fighting against himself; he had me 
on a sick-bed, and on the very brink of hell, and the least 
touch of his hand Would have thrust me in ; but yet he hath 
spared his enemy, and let me go well away. Oh, shall not 
these cords of love draw me. and this matchless goodness 
invite and hire me to repent? Can any consideration in 
the world be more powerful than this to melt my hard heart 
into tears of holy shame and sorrow for my stiffiieckedness 
and rebellion against a gracious and long-suffering God ? 
Away with these cursed, God-provoking sins of mine. Down 
with these weapons of rebellion. Let me never lift them 
more against such a merciful sovereign." 

2. Zealously improve the time which God in his long- 
suffering hath lengthened out to you, in working out the 
salvation of thy soul. Have you so long been loading the 
patience of God with your sins ; have you many a day been 
grieving his Holy Spirit, by trifling away your time, slight- 
ing his motions, and venturing on sins against light ? Oh 
then beware of burdening his patience any more ; but dili- 
gently hearken to every motion of God's Spirit and of your 
own conscience for the time to come. You have much 
work to do, and but little time to do it in; therefore lay 
hold on every opportunity for carrying it on. The consider- 
ation of the time you have already lost and misspent should 



THE UNRE GENERATE RESTORED. 139 

make you the more diligent in what remaineth. How much 
of it have you lost in youth ; how much in ignorance ; how 
much more in negligence ; how much in worldliness ; how 
much in pastimes ; how much in idle words ; how much in 
actual sins and provocations against God. And now it may 
be near the evening of your day ; and will you not spend 
the evening which God is mercifully lengthening out, with 
extraordinary care and diligence ? If a traveller lose the 
beginning of the day, he must travel the faster in the even- 
ing, otherwise he may fall short of his journey, and have 
his lodging to seek for when night comes. Paul had mis- 
spent much of the beginning of his life ; and this considera- 
tion, when his eyes were opened, stirred him up to be the 
more diligent in the service of God, so that he was more 
zealous than any of the rest of the apostles. 0 man, follow 
his example, and trifle no longer in the work of God. Art 
thou not convinced thou hast squandered away enough of 
this precious treasure of time already ? And wilt thou also 
misspend and throw away the little that remains ? Oh, be 
not so foolish. 

3. Be careful to raze all false foundations, and build your 
hopes of salvation upon the only sure rock Jesus Christ. 
Let it not discourage thee from digging to the foundation, 
that so much of thy day is lost ; for it is better to do it late 
than never. Remember, how miserable is the condition of 
that house which is built upon the sand. Matt. 7 : 27. For 
when the flood comes, and the storm arises and beats upon 
it, great and dismal will the fall of that house be. Do not 
build your hopes of heaven upon God's absolute mercy, upon 
your convictions, upon your freedom from gross sins, upon 
your prayers or tears, upon your morality and just dealings 
with men. Though these be necessary and excellent in. 
themselves, yet they are false foundations to build the hopes 
of your justification and salvation upon, seeing they are 
wholly insufficient to bear such a weight. However much 



140 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION 

these things have been esteemed and valued by you fprmerly 
in the matter of justification, yet, if you resolve to be a wise 
builder you will let them all go, yea, count them, all but 
loss and dung, that you may win Christ our only hope, 
build on him alone, and be found in him, not having on your 
own righteousness, which is but filthy rags. 

"Well, then, raze and tear up every false foundation ; dig 
deep, till you win to the rock Christ. Dig deep into the 
holy law and nature of God; dig till you see the infinite 
strictness of divine justice, the unspeakable evil that is in 
sin, the hidden vileness and abominations of the. heart, your 
own inability to do any thing for your help and relief. Dig 
yet further, till you see the infinite fulness and freeness of 
God's grace in Jesus Christ — that suitable remedy that an- 
swers all a poor sinner needs. Dig deep, and dig on till you 
win to this Rock ; let your cry to God still be, Lord, lead 
me to the rock Christ, and his all-sufficient righteousness 
only. Act faith upon this rock, rely on it, build all your 
hopes on it, and say, " This is my rest for ever ; here will I 
dwell, for I have desired it. Lord, the desire of my soul is 
only to Christ, and to the remembrance of his name." 

4. If you would rightly improve the sparing mercy and 
goodness of God, let it lead you to repentance and reforma- 
tion of life. Turn from all these sins, whether of omission 
or commission, now in the day of health, which conscience 
challenged you for in the time of sickness. Mind Christ's 
caution and warning to healed sinners : " Behold, thou art 
made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto 
thee." John 5 : 14. Oh let thy sin die with thy sickness, 
and do not relapse into thy former security and sinful ways. 
Beware of returning with the dog to thy vomit, and like the 
sow that is washed, to the wallowing again in the mire of 
thy former sins and uncleannesses, lest being entangled and 
overcome again with the filthiness which thou now hast 
escaped, thy latter end prove worse than thy beginning. 



THE UNRE GENERATE RESTORED. 141 

5. And to sum up all I shall say in this chapter, be 
careful to redeem time, and active in providing for an eternal 
state. 0 prize and value the mercy of health and strength 
more than ever. Sympathize with those who are still lying 
on sick-beds, and under languishing distempers ; neglect not 
to pity and pray for them. Kemember the distressed case 
you were in yourself when you had no rest in your bones, 
when wearisome nights were appointed to you, and you 
Were full of tossings to the dawning of the day. Consider 
how slippery is your standing. Though the late storm of 
trouble be over, yet the clouds will return after rain. 



142 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

CHAPTER VII. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE SICK WHO ARE APPARENTLY IN A 
DYING CONDITION, AND DRAWING- NEAP- TO ANOTHER 
WORLD. 

I have already in the first, third, and fourth chapter 
given several directions concerning our submission to the 
will of God, making preparation for death, calling for minis- 
ters, edifying others by our discourses, settling our worldly 
affairs, etc., and therefore I shall not repeat them, but pro- 
ceed to speak of other things. Only let me add this word, 
if you have hitherto neglected to make your wills, settle 
your worldly affairs, send for ministers to discourse with and 
pray over you ; delay it no longer, but do it speedily, while 
you have the use of your reason and understanding. And 
what I have more to say, take it in the following direc- 
tions. 

Direction 1. Consider, when death stares you in the face, that 
now is the time, if ever, to exert the utmost activity in pre- 
paring to meet it. 

Alas, it is to be regretted that the greater part of men 
neglect their souls, misspend their lives, misimprove their 
health, and leave undone the work for which they were cre- 
ated, preserved, and favored with the gospel. Surely a near 
prospect of death and judgment cannot but be distressing to 
such persons. What a melancholy thought must it be for a 
dying man, " Oh, I had all my time given me to make prep- 
aration for endless eternity ; and alas, I never minded it 
till now that I must leave this world. Is there any hope 
for such a careless and miserable sinner ?" I acknowledge 
the case is sad, but yet it is not remediless nor desperate ; 
seeing there is a sacrifice provided for your sins, and an all- 
sufficient Saviour who never cast out any humbled soul that 
came to him for mercy. You have great reason indeed to 



THE SICK AND DYIN6-. 



143 



abhor and condemn yourself before God for your sin and 
folly ; yet despair not, but believe, whatever be your sins, 
your dangers, your fears, and temptations, that Jesus Christ 
is both able and willing to save to the uttermost all that 
come to God by him ; and that his grace aboundeth more 
than your sin aboundeth. 0 how glad would dtvils and 
damned souls in hell be, if they were but in your case, and 
had your offers and hopes ; how diligently would they im- 
prove the time of mercy. 0 be persuaded then to spend the 
little time that now remains with the utmost care, in making 
penitent confession of sin to God and applying to the blood 
of Christ for pardon. Nay, even the best of God's people 
have need to be diligent at this time, in making actual prep- 
aration for dying. God is now saying to you, as Joshua 
did to the Israelites, " Prepare your victuals, for within three 
days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the 
land which the Lord your God giveth you." Joshua 1:11. 
Lay in provision for your passing over this Jordan of death; 
you know not how rough the passage may be. 

I shall give some motives to press this diligent and active 
preparation ; and therefore consider, 

1. The short time of your life that remains is all the 
time you have for working out your salvation. What you 
do for attaining heaven and avoiding hell must be done now 
or never ; for there is no work nor device in the grave 
whither thou goest, nor is there any coming back to this 
world to amend what hath been amiss. Dying is a thing 
you cannot get a trial of; it is what you can only do once, 
and no more. Heb. 9 : 27. 

2. Be diligent now, for as soon as death gets a commi&» 
gion to cut you off, it will execute it ; it will not spare you* 
nor allow you one minute more time to prepare for eternity. 
The most merciless enemies have sometimes been overcome 
by the prayers and tears of such as on their knees did beg a 
little more time to prepare for another world, and have listen- 



144 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



ed to their requests ; but this enemy, death, will not grant 
one moment's respite. 

3. Consider that your eternal state and condition will be 
according to the state in which you die. Death will open 
the doors either of heaven or hell to you, in one of which 
you shall take up your eternal abode. As the tree falls at 
death, so will it lie through eternity. 

4. Consider what a serious and awful matter it is to die 
and go into another world, for then you will have immedi- 
ately to do with God your judge ; there will be no veil then 
between him and your soul. You will then enter into a 
world of spirits, wherewith you are so little acquainted, not 
knowing but devils must be your companions for ever. 
Surely then it is your interest to give all diligence now, to 
make your acquaintance with the Lord of that world, before 
you enter into it. 

5. Put forth thy utmost activity for thy soul now ; for be 
sure Satan will put forth his utmost against it. If thou be 
in a Christless state at this time, he will use all his efforts 
and stratagems to keep thee from Christ, either by flatter- 
ing thee that thy state is good, thereby to lull thee asleep in 
sin and security, or by telling thee it is too late to help mat- 
ters with thee, thereby to drive you into despair. The devil 
will leave no method unattempted to ruin thy soul when 
death is near : for he knows his time is short ; and if he 
catch not the soul then, he will never get it : and neither 
can he hurt it hereafter ; for if once it enter heaven, he can 
trouble it no more. 

If thou art a believer in Christ, Satan thy malicious 
enemy will not fail to attack thee at this time with all his 
might ; for though he may know he cannot keep thee out of 
heaven, yet he will labor to render thy passage towards it 
as dark, tempestuous, and uncomfortable as possibly he can. 
But it is the believer's happiness that this cruel enemy is 
under a strong chain, and cannot do all he would ; for Jesus 



THE SICK AND DYING. 14£> 

Christ is the good shepherd that hath undertaken for all his 
sheep. Nevertheless, by his wise permission, this adversary 
may sometimes give great disturbance to a dying saint ; 
which calls thee to the greatest diligence and watchfulness 
at this time. It is the observation of one, that as the devil 
is most busy at the conclusion of a duty, as of prayer, that 
the Christian may be most disturbed and distracted when he 
is to close up all in the name of Christ, and so all his desires 
be frustrated ; so he is most busy in the conclusion of our 
days and when death is at hand, seeking by temptations, 
distractions, and false imaginations to do us all the mischief 
he can, and all because he knoweth his time is short. " The 
devil is come down, having great wrath, because he know- 
eth that he hath but a short time/' Rev. 12 : 12. He 
may fitly be called the wolf of the evening, mentioned in 
Jer. 5:6, because he comes forth most fiercely in the even- 
ing of men's lives, to assault their precious souls. Yea, so 
busy is he sometimes with believers under dangerous sick- 
ness, seeking to overthrow their faith and assurance, that it 
is the observation of a good man, that he seldom seeth a sick 
saint, followed close by temptations, recover of that sickness ; 
for Satan, knowing he hath but little time, proves as trouble- 
some to him as he can. Hence that great man of God Mr. 
Knox, said, when he came to die, " In my lifetime the devil 
tempted me to despair, casting my sins in my teeth ; but 
now in my sickness he tells me I have been faithful in the 
ministry, and so have merited heaven ; but blessed be God, 
who brought these texts into my mind : Not I, but the grace 
of God in m; What hast thou, that thou hast not receiv- 
ed ?" The children of Israel had never such hot work from 
their enemies, as when they just came to enter into the 
promised land. 

"What need then hast thou, 0 believer, to be diligent in 
thy preparations on a dying bed to quicken grace : put forth 
thy utmost strength ; bring all the assistance thou canst 

Affl. Man'! Comp. 7 



I 



146 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 




from the Captain of thy salvation, when thou hast such a 
cruel enemy to encounter with. Now is the time for action, 
though indeed it were wisdom to leaye as little to be done 
at this time as possible. 

Direction 2. Continue to the last in the exercise of true repent- 
ance and humiliation for sin. 

Possidonius, who wrote the life of Augustine, saith, that 
he heard him often say in his health, that repentance was 
the fittest disposition both for dying Christians and minis- 
ters ; and for himself, that he died with tears in his eyes, 
weeping for sin. "When death approacheth nearest, we 
should thus stir up ourselves to give sin the most deadly 
blow of any we have given it all our life. As it is most 
laudable to die forgiving sinners that have wronged us, so 
also taking revenge upon sin that hath injured a gracious 
God. The apostle tells us, that indignation and revenge 
attend true repentance. 2 Cor. 7:11. Wherefore, as Samuel ! 
took vengeance on A gag a little before his death, and Moses 
at God's command avenged the children of Israel of the Mid- 
ianites just before he was gathered to his people, Numbers 
31 : 2, and dying Samson gave a more fatal blow to the 
Philistines than any he had given them before ; so a dying 
Christian should at the last take the severest revenge upon 
sin, which hath so oft through his life dishonored God, 
pierced Christ, and grieved his Holy Spirit. It is the last 
opportunity you will have to show your indignation at it, f 
and therefore do it effectually. 

Again, consider it is old sins unmourned for, that many j 
times keep believers so much in the dark when they come j 
to die. These do raise so many thick clouds about their r 
evening sun, and hinder them from going off the stage with ! E 
such comfortable assurance of God's love as they might oth- j ,i 
erwise attain to. These did very much hinder Job's peace 
in the day of affliction, as he complains, " Thou makest me (j 
to possess the iniquities of my youth." Job 13 ■ 26. It is 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 147 

a sad thing when young sins and old bones meet together. 
Oh that young people would mind this in time ; you are 
doing that now which will abide with you to old-age, if not 
to eternity. Sin must be bitter some time or other, for God 
calls it a root that bears gall and wormwood. Deut. 29 : 18. 
Israel could not have peace nor success while there was an 
Achan in the camp ; so neither can you have consolation or 
assurance while any sin lies unreckoned for in the conscience. 
Make a thorough search then into old sins, and mourn over 
them. We find Paul frequently calling over the sins of his 
life, and even those he was guilty of before conversion : "I 
was injurious, a blasphemer," etc. ; whereby he maintained 
much inward peace and consolation. Be oft looking back 
to old sins with inward sorrow and faith in Christ's blood, 
if you would have a death-bed easy and soft to you. 

Direction 3. Be mindful of all acts of justice and charity which 
may be incumbent upon you at this time. 

It is great wisdom in men to settle their worldly affairs 
in the time of health, that so their minds may be free for 
spiritual exercises, and not disturbed with earthly cares and 
business when they come to a dying bed ; but if this hath 
been neglected hitherto, it must not be omitted now. I 
have given directions about it, Chapter I., Direction 6, so 
that I shall say little here : only be careful to do justice to 
every man, as much as in you lieth ; and particularly, by 
making a just and rational provision for your wife and chil- 
dren ; by ordering payment of all your just debts, without 
defrauding any of your lawful creditors ; and by making res- 
titution in case you have wronged any man. If justice be 
not done in these matters, how can your souls be disbur- 
dened of guilt ? 

In the next place, forget not the acts of charity which 
God requires of all the professors of the gospel. 

1. Seek reconciliation with your neighbors, where any 



143 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



difference or mistakes have taken place, that so you may 
die in peace and charity with all about you. 

2. Be ready from the heart to forgive those that have 
done you any wrong. If the natural sun should not go 
down upon our wrath, much less should the sun of our 
lives. If you carry an unforgiving spirit with you into an- 
other world, how can you expect to meet with a forgiving 
God there, when he hath expressly declared, "If ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive 
your trespasses?" Matt. 6 : 15. Oh, then, imitate your glo- 
rious Saviour and his martyr Stephen, who at their death 
begged mercy from God for those that mortally hated them. 
Luke 23 : 34 ; Acts 7 : 60. 

3. If the Lord hath given you substance, honor the Lord 
with it by leaving some part of it to the poor, and to pious 
uses. I have pressed this once and again before, but I men- 
tion it frequently, because it is much forgotten by dying per- 
sons in our age. Remember, it is not left arbitrary to you 
to give or not, as. you please ; no, for God doth charge it 
upon you as a duty, yea, a debt that you owe him : " Charge 
them that are rich in this world, that they do good ; be rich 
in good works, ready to distribute." 1 Tim. 6 : 17, 18. 
And he pronounceth them blessed who consider the poor. 
Psalm 41 : 1. I grant that people are not to leave all their 
works of charity to a death-bed. These should also be 
minded in our lifetime, so as to make our own hands our 
executors, and our own eyes the overseers of our charitable 
projects ; but surely it is a proper season for showing charity 
to God's poor when we are leaving them, and cannot have 
opportunity for showing it more. Remember what is re- 
corded of Dorcas after her death, Acts 9 : 36, that she was 
a woman full of good works and alms-deeds ; and her friends 
showed the effects of her charity to Peter after her death : 
all wbich was written for our example and admonition, that 
we may be rich in such good works, that our friends may 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



, 149 



have them to show after our death. Surely it is a sign of 
the degeneracy of this age, and that religion is on the declin- 
ing hand, when people generally fall so short of the zeal and 
piety of their fathers in this matter. 

4. It would be a commendable work of charity in dying 
persons, to be giving many good counsels to their relations 
and children, and to be putting up many fervent prayers to 
God for them. So Christ, when near to death, committed 
his spiritual children to his Father, and earnestly begged his 
protection and care of them : "I am no more in the world, 
but these are in the world : keep them through thy name ; 
keep them from the evil." John 17 : 11. In like manner 
cry to God for your children : " Lord, thou hast graciously 
given them to me ; I now restore them back to thee. They 
were born to me once ; 0 that they may be born to thee a 
second time. I am leaving them in the midst of snares and 
temptations; 0 that it may be their happiness to be pre- 
served in Christ Jesus. Keep them by thy power through 
faith unto salvation. Oh take them within the bond of thy 
covenant, and be thou their father, to protect, direct, and 
provide for them ; give them a name in thy house better 
than of sons and daughters, that I may meet with them at 
thy right hand with everlasting joy." 

5. Be suitably concerned also for the whole church of 
Christ, and especially for those that are in affliction, that 
God may loose their bonds, and send them liberty and pros- 
perity in his due time. "Do good in thy good pleasure unto 
Zion ; build up the walls of thy Jerusalem. Peace be within 
her walls, and prosperity within her palaces." 

Direction 4. Labor to overcome the love of life and the fear 
of death, that you may attain to willingness to die and leave 
the world when God calleth you to it. 

It is no wonder that a wicked man, or one that hath no 
interest in Christ, should be unwilling to die : for, he is 
affrighted with the guilt of past sins, and the fears of future 



150 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



torments ; and it is impossible to be rid of these till he be- 
come a true believer in Christ. No man hath ground to 
welcome death but the believer ; yet it is to be regretted, 
that so many of them should appear unwilling to leave this 
world, which is nothing to them but a wilderness and weary 
land, Lot's soul was vexed and troubled in Sodom, and yet 
he was loath to leave it ; so some believers, when called to 
leave a vexing world, do show much hankering towards it, 
and linger behind. This proceeds partly from nature, which 
dreads a dissolution, and partly from the weakness of grace 
But Oh let all God's children labor to overcome this aver- 
sion, and go forth to meet death half-way and bid it wel- 
come. And for their help in this matter, I will lay before 
them the following arguments. 

1. Consider how little reason a believer hath to be much 
in love with this present life. It is a sinful life ; sin dwells 
in your nature, breaks out in your life, and pollutes all your 
duties. How often have you groaned under this burden ; 
and should you not be glad to be eternally delivered from it ? 
It is a life of diseases and infirmities ; and should you not 
be willing to be cured of them all at once ? It is a life of 
temptation : Satan is still harassing thee, and should you 
not be desirous to be out of his reach ? It is a life of perse- 
cutions from the wicked : they hate, reproach, and injure 
you many ways ; and is it not desirable to be " where the 
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest ?" It 
is a life of clouds and darkness ; your sun is often veiled, and 
your evidences obscured, which occasions many bitter com- 
plaints ; and should you not desire that time when the day 
shall break and all shadows fly away ? It is a life of calam- 
ities and fears ; it is like a stormy sea, where one wave rolls 
upon the back of another ; and when one calamity is past, 
we many times fear a greater is coming ; and sometimes the 
heavens turn so black and gloomy, that we fear a hurricane 
of judgments is ready to blow , and should you not bless God, 



THE SICK. AND DYING-. 



151 



when he comes by death to house your souls, and set you out 
of harm's way ? It is in mercy that God takes away the 
righteous from the evil to come. Isa. 57 : 1. So dealt he 
with Josiah : "I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou 
shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace ; and thine eyes 
shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place." 
2 Kings, 22 : 20. So is it observable that Methuselah died 
the very year of the flood, Augustine a little before the sack- 
ing of Hippo, Pareus just before the taking of Heidelberg. 
Luther observes that all the apostles died before the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem ; and Luther himself died before the bloody 
wars broke out in Germany. Thus God frequently hides his 
people from the temptations and troubles that are coming on 
the earth. Why ? he sees many of them not in case to 
endure them ; and therefore he in mercy takes them away 
from a tempting and sinning world, to a land of holiness and 
rest. While we are here, we live in a world that lies in 
wickedness ; every sense of the body betrays the soul into 
sin : the poor soul can scarce look out at the eye, and not be 
affected ; nor hear by the ear, and not be distracted ; nor 
smell at the nostrils, and not be tainted ; nor taste at the 
tongue, and not be allured ; nor touch by the hand, and not 
be denied. 

0 believer, what is this life that thou art so fond of? it 
is but a living death, or dying life. It is full of grief for 
things past, full of labor for things present, and full of fears 
for things future. The first part of our life is spent in folly ; 
the middle part is overwhelmed with cares, and the latter 
part is burdened with infirmities and age. And what gam 
we by prolonging tins life ? nothing but to suffer more evil. 
And should a Christian be unwilling to be rid of those griev- 
ances ? 

2. Consider that dying is appointed as the way, and the 
only way to glory ; there is no way to enter the promised 
land, but by crossing the Jordan of death. And should not 



152 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



a stranger desire to be at home with his friends, though he 
hath a rough way and stormy sea to pass ? Is there any 
home like heaven, where your incomparable friend Christ is? 
0 what a happiness is it to be with Christ, and to see him 
as he is. How happy do you think Peter, James, and John 
were, in being taken up to mount Tabor, to be eye-witnesses 
of their Saviour's transfiguration ; but, 0 believer, death 
procures a greater happiness to you : it ushers you to mount 
Zion, where you shall not only see your Saviour whiter than 
the snow, and brighter than the sun, but yourself transfig- 
ured with him, made like him, and eternally secure of his 
presence. The three apostles saw but two prophets ; but 
you shall see all the prophets, all the apostles, all the patri- 
archs, all the martyrs, all the holy persons you ever con< 
versed with on earth, and, in fine, all the saints in heaven, 
each of them shining as the sun ; and how sweet will their 
company be ! 0 how soon will the trifles of the world van- 
ish, and all its pleasures be forgotten, when once the believer 
gets a view of that captivating glory above. When the 
shepherds heard but some few notes of the angels' song who 
praised God at the nativity of our Saviour, they presently 
left their flocks, and ran to Bethlehem to behold the child 
Jesus lying in the manger ; how much more cause hath a 
believer to leave all the pleasures of the world, and run to 
behold an exalted Jesus sitting on the throne of his glory, 
with all his saints and angels singing praises around him ? 

If Cato and Cleombrotus, two heathens, after reading 
Plato's book of the immortality of the soul, did voluntarily, 
the one fall on his sword, the other break his neck from a 
precipice, that they might the sooner come, as they fancied, 
to partake of those joys ; what a shame is it for Christians, 
who have a surer and clearer discovery of those things from 
God's own book, to be found unwilling to enter into those 
heavenly joys, when their Redeemer calls for them thither ? 

3. Consider how willing Christ was to come from heaven 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



153 



to earth for you ; and should you be unwilling to remove 
from earth to heaven for him, yea, for yourselves ? for the 
gain is yours. 0 did Christ assume your nature, become 
obedient to death, and purchase an inheritance for you with 
his blood ; and will you be backward to go and take posses- 
sion of it ? 0 for a Christlike obedience. 

4. Consider what a reproach is cast on Christianity by 
a believer's unwillingness to die. For Christians to pray 
and speak much of Christ, of heaven and glory, and yet be 
unwilling to enter into that glory, what is it but a mistrust- 
ing of God, and a tempting of strangers to think there is no 
reality in religion ? 

And since death is not easy to grapple with, receive the 
following counsels how to attain to this blessed disposition, 
a willingness to die. 

1. Be frequently putting forth the acts of faith upon the 
righteousness of Christ ; and believe that Christ died to bring 
in a perfect righteousness for believers, that they all might 
be complete in him. Now why should a believer be afraid 
to appear before God in Christ's righteousness, which is so 
pleasing and acceptable to him ? They are said to be 
"without fault before the throne of God." Rev. 14 : 5. If a 
believer were to appear before God in his own righteousness, 
clothed with his own duties and performances, it would be 
dreadful to think of dying ; but to have the white garment 
of our elder Brother to put on, gives another view of death. 
Alas, it is our neglecting the daily exercise of faith in the 
righteousness of Christ, that makes the thoughts of death so 
unwelcome. 

2. When you attain to peace and reconciliation with 
God, labor to preserve it. State and clear your accounts 
with God every day ; and watch against those sins that 
wound conscience, waste comfort, and grieve the Spirit of 
adoption. When we think God is displeased with us, we 
are afraid of going to him. 

7# 



154 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



3. Study to be more denied to the enjoyments of this 
life, and to use them with a holy indifference ; otherwise 
there will be an unwillingness to leave them. 

4. Labor to be deeply sensible of the burden of indwelling 
sin and corruption, and the workings thereof in your heart ; 
and this will make the thoughts of death welcome, because 
it eternally delivers you from it. 

5. Seek further discoveries of the loveliness of Christ, 
and the daily exercise and increase of your soul's love to him ; 
for it is the nature of love to long after communion with the 
person that we love. 

6. Make death familiar to you by frequent forethoughts 
of it. Retire oft from the world to think of dying, even when 
you are in your best health. 

7. Be much taken up in the sweet employment of prais- 
ing God, and exalting the worthy Lamb that was slain ; 
and this will incline you to be there where this is the con- 
tinued work. 

8. Be oft thinking of those warnings and forerunners of 
death, which God sends to wean your heart from the love of 
life, and dispose you to a willingness to die. For this end, 
God sends manifold diseases, pains, infirmities, wants, straits, 
losses, crosses, and disappointments. And in a special man- 
ner, let old people view the forerunners and harbingers of 
death which God sends to prepare his way ; such as the de- 
cays and infirmities of old-age, which we have elegantly de- 
scribed in figurative expressions, Eccles. 12:2-7: "Then 
the light of sun, moon, and stars shall be darkened;" that 
is, in old persons, the intellectual powers and faculties, which 
are as lights in the soul, shall be weakened. And then "the 
clouds return after rain;" that is, their distempers are fre- 
quent, like a continual dropping in a rainy day, and the end- 
ing of one is but the beginning of another. Yerse 3. " Then 
the keepers ot the house do tremble;" that is, the head and 
hands which were employed for the preservation of the Lody 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



155 



do shake. "The strong men bow themselves;" that is, the 
legs and thighs, which are the pillars of the house, become 
weak and feeble. "The grinders cease because they are 
few;" that is, the teeth, which, like the upper and nether 
millstone do grind out meat and prepare it for digestion, then 
cease to do their part. " Those that look out of the windows 
are darkened ;" that is, the eyes wax dim, whereby God calls 
us to turn them away from beholding vanity, to look after 
the things that are not seen. Yerse 4. " The daughters of 
music are brought low ;" that is, they have neither voice nor 
ears : they can neither sing themselves, nor take pleasure in 
the voice of singing men or women. Then death pulls us 
as it were by the ear, to think of the music above. Verse 5. 
" The almond-tree flourisheth ;" that is, the hair grows white, 
like the almond-tree in blossom. And as the out-parts of 
the body do weaken and decay, so also do the inward parts 
thereof; therefore it is said, verse 6, "The silver cord shall 
be loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the 
fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern;" that is, the 
silver cord of the sinews is loosed, which carries the faculty 
of sense and motion from the head, through the body ; the 
head, which like a golden bowl or box, contains the brain, 
that is, the fountain of sense and motion, through age is 
broken and turns crazy ; the pitchers and wheels of the 
arteries, which carry the nourishing blood and vital spirits 
from the well of the heart unto each part of the body, be- 
come like broken vessels. All these things do warn old per- 
sons to take their affections off from the things of time and 
set them upon things above, that they may be helped to say, 
we "desire to depart and to be with Christ." 

But after all, some believers will have objections against 
willingness to die ; some of which I shall consider. 

Objection 1. I am about to be cut off in the flower of 
my age. 

Answer. Instead of fretting on this account, you ought 



156 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



rather to adore and praise a gracious G-od, that is willing to 
bestow the reward of the whole day upon thee, who hast 
only labored some hours of it. Praise him that is willing 
to take you so soon home ; whereby you will prevent much 
sin and sorrow in the world. 

Objection 2. I have houses and lands, and a comforta- 
ble dwelling on the earth. 

Answer. These are only needful in your passage through 
the world : above, there is no use for these comforts. There 
God provideth mansions for his people a thousand times more 
comfortable. John 14:2; 2 Cor. 5:1. Surely houses of 
God's building and of Christ's furnishing are preferable to 
the cottages built by men's hands. 

Objection 3. But I am loath to leave God's ordinances, 
and the sweet communion I have had with him therein. 

Answer. Above, there will be no need of ordinances, sa- 
craments, bibles, or ministers ; for the lamb will be the light 
of the heavenly temple, and all hid things in religion will 
be discovered in Christ's face. There you will celebrate an 
eternal Sabbath, drink the fruit of the vine new with Christ, 
be ever with the Lord, without any cloud or interiuption ot 
your communion with him. Is it any loss to be taken from 
the shallow streams, and set by the fountain that is ev^r full 
and running over ? 

Objection 4. I am loath to leave the company of godly 
friends and relations. 

Answer. Death will take you to youi friend Christ, 
which is far better than them all. And for one friend you 
lose on earth, you shall find a hundred in heaven ; and those 
godly relations you leave here, you shall meet again there, 
where you will have far sweeter communion than you can 
possibly have upon earth with them, or the best of men, 
who, while here, have several infirmities and passions, that 
many times make their converse less pleasant. 

Objection 5. But I would fain see the glory of Zion 



THE SICK AND DYING. 157 

upon earth, when God's promises to her shall be accom- 
plished. 

Answer. So Moses would fain have seen Israel's happi- 
ness in the promised land ; but his dying in the firm belief 
of God's fulfilling all his promises to them there, was more 
acceptable to God than his beholding the performance. 
And the glory of the church militant is a sight nothing 
comparable to that of the church triumphant above. 

Objection 6. But I would gladly stay to do God 
more service in his church below, whose necessities are so 
great. 

Answer. You will not want opportunity for serving and 
glorifying God above, where you will be in far better case 
for it. Here, our hearts are often out of tune for God's work, 
and we are forced to hang our harps upon the willows ; but 
above, there are no willows to hang them on ; no saint there 
will ever complain of any indisposition of heart or tongue. 

Moreover, God knows the necessities of his church, and 
is more concerned for them than thou canst be ; and it is 
easy for him to raise up instruments to carry on his work 
when thou art gone. 

Objection 7. I am afraid of the pain and pangs ol 
death. The thoughts of these make me shrink back. 

Answer. Many die without much seeming sense of pain, 
and it is probable have less pain at the hour of death, than 
they have felt under previous diseases. Or if the pains be 
sharp, they are soon over ; and each pang of death will set 
sin a step nearer the door, and thy soul a step nearer home ; 
and therefore it becometh a Christian to die cheerfully, and 
to be glad when he can find the grave. 

Now. what I have said in this chapter is to the believing 
soul ; for it is no wonder that the souls of the ungodly at 
death shrink back into the body and tremble to go forth, 
when they can have no prospect of any better lodging than 
utter darkness. 



/ 



158 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

Direction 5. Study to imitate the ancient worthies, by dying 
in faith. 

This was the character and epitaph of the Old Testa- 
ment saints: "These all died in faith." Heb. 11 : 13. As 
they had lived by faith, so they died in faith. They not 
only continued true believers to the last, dying in the state 
of faith, but they died in the exercise of faith also. Now 
the exercise of faith in dying includes several particulars 
worthy to be imitated by all dying believers. 

1. An open and professed adherence to the doctrine of 
faith and truths of Christianity. This faith all Christians 
should zealously own in the view of death, and persevere in 
it to the last without wavering. This would be to die like 
martyrs, though we die in our beds. How steadfastly did old 
Polycarp adhere to Christ and his truths to the last, and so 
died in faith. When he was urged by the proconsul to deny 
Christ, he answered, " These fourscore and six years have I 
served him, and he never once offended me ; and how shall 
I now deny him?" 

2. Dying in faith imports an inward, hearty, and firm 
belief in the fundamental articles of the Christian faith, and 
improving them so as to make them the foundation of our 
comfort and hope at the hour of death. For instance, we 
must yield our departing souls, in the firm belief of their 
living and existing in a separate condition after this life, and 
of that future state of blessedness and rest which God hath 
prepared for all believers. Again, we must dismiss this body 
to the grave, in a firm belief and hope of a joyful resurrec- 
tion at the last day. Thus that holy man Job both lived 
and died in faith. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and 
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And 
though after my skin, worms destroy this hodj, yet in my 
flesh I shall see God." Job 19 : 25, 26. A Christian dies 
in faith, when he so believes these truths as cheerfully to 
obey God's call, and venture into the invisible world upon 



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159 



the testimony which God has given concerning it ; as Abra- 
ham did in going out to an unknown land. " By faith Abra- 
ham, when he w T as called to go out into a place which he 
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went 
out not knowing whither he went." Heb. 11:8. 

3. The believer dies in faith, when he makes fresh appli- 
cation to Christ as his only hope and Saviour, takes him in 
his arms of faith, as old Simeon did before his death, saying, 
"In the Lord Christ I have righteousness and strength;" 
though I have neither righteousness nor strength in myself, 
yet I have both in him, my blessed surety and Redeemer. 
We have many uses for faith in Christ at the hour of death. 
By faith we must depend upon Christ's blood for making 
atonement, and washing away the guilt of all our past sins. 
By faith we must put on the righteousness of Christ for cov 
ering our naked souls, when they are to appear and stand 
before God. By faith we must rely on Christ for strength 
to suffer pain, resist temptations, and conquer death and all 
our enemies. By faith we must look to Christ as our leader, 
and trust him for our safe conduct through the dark valley 
of death, and for our safe landing on the shore of glory. 

4. The believer dies in faith, when he trusts his depart- 
ing soul with confidence in his Redeemer's hand, saying with 
Paul, " I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him 
against that day." 2 Tim, 1 : 12. This was the psalmist's 
practice: "Into thy hand I commit my spirit; for thou hast 
redeemed me, 0 Lord God of truth." Psalm 31:5. So the 
man that dies in faith commits the jewel of his soul to his 
Redeemer's keeping, and confides in his care of it. "Why ? 
he made it, he hath redeemed it, he loves it, it is his own, a 
member of his body, and he will not hate his own flesh, 
He loves his dying saints much better than we love an eye, . 
a hand, or any other member of our body, which, most cer- 
tainly, we will not lose, if it be in our power to save it. 



160 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION, 



5. Dying in faith imports that the dying saint confides 
in God's faithfulness and truth for making good all those 
promises to his church and people after his death, which are 
not yet accomplished. We should go off the stage of life in 
the firm belief of God's fulfilling all his promises concerning 
the prosperity of his church, the calling of the Jews, the de- 
struction of antichrist, and the second coming of our Lord ; 
and likewise concerning our families, that God will be as 
good as his word, and be a father to the fatherless, and a 
husband to the widow. 

Would you then be so happy as to die in faith, take these 
advices : 

1. Be careful to get faith beforehand; for death is a time 
to use faith, not to get it. They were foolish virgins who had 
their oil to buy when the bridegroom was close at hand. 

2. Study to live every day in the exercise of faith; and 
be still improving and making use of Christ in all his offices, 
and for all those ends and uses for which God hath given 
him to believers. 

3. Frequently clear up your evidences for heaven, and 
beware of letting sin blot them to you. 

4. Record and lay up the experiences of God's kind 
dealings with you, and be often reflecting upon them, that 
you may have them ready at hand in the hour of death. 

5. Meditate much on those promises which have been 
sweet and comfortable to you in the time of trial, and beg 
that the Lord may bring them to your remembrance when 
you come to die. 

Direction 6. Place the examples of other dying saints before 
you, and study in like manner to shine in grace, and be ex- 
. emplary in piety and heavenly discourse, for the glory of God 
and good of souls, when you are going off the stage. 

This is the last opportunity you can have of doing service 
to God and the interests of religion ; wherefore strive to im< 
prove it diligently for the honor of God, and to the edifica- 



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161 



tion-of those that survive you. How pleasant is it to see 
God's people leaving the world commending Christ and his 
service, and perfuming the place they lie in with their last 
breath. I have, Chapter III., Direction 5 and 6, adduced 
several motives to press this point, and given directions con- 
cerning the discourse and behavior of the children of God 
when on sick-beds, which I shall not repeat. 

That which I design here is, to set before you the ex- 
amples of some eminent saints, and their pious and holy 
sayings when they were dying ; and this in order to confirm 
and establish others in religion, and also to excite them to 
imitate those shining worthies when they also come to die. 
Surely it is for this very end that God hath ordered us to be 
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Heb. 
12:1. Thus doth the apostle improve their example. 
Heb. 11. And how earnest is he in this matter: "And 
we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence, 
to the full assurance of hope unto the end ; that ye be not 
slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience 
inherit the promises." Heb. 6:11, 12. 

I shall begin with, some examples from the sacked 
history ; and, 

1. With the King of saints, our Lord Jesus Christ, 0 
how sweet and comforting were his discourses unto his dis- 
ciples when his death drew nigh ; and what a heavenly 
prayer did he make for them, and all his elect ones at that 
time ! These we have recorded in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 
17th chapters of John : which are most seasonable at all 
times for us to read and meditate upon, but especially when 
death is approaching. And likewise let us read the history 
of our Lord's crucifixion, in which we may observe the won- 
derful expressions of his faith in God, his patience under suf- 
ferings, his pity to his enemies, his love to his mother and 
his disciples, his concern for his Father's glory, his obedience 
in his death, and his willingness to be offered up. Thus the 



162 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



blessed Sun of righteousness did shine forth most gloriously 
at his setting, with the radiant beams of heavenly graces and 
virtues ; and herein he hath set a pattern to all dying saints 
to the end of the world. 

2. Jacob, when he was on his death-bed, called his sons 
together, and gave them many special charges and bless- 
ings ; we have his excellent words recorded in Genesis 48 
and 49. And in particular, how sweetly doth he speak of 
the coming of the Messiah to them. Genesis 49 : 10, 18. 
And how affectionately doth he commend God's goodness 
and kind providence towards him through his life: "The 
God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel 
which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." Gen. 
48 : 15, 16. 

3. Joseph, when he was dying, spoke lovingly to his 
brethren, who had dealt cruelly with him, and assured 
them of the Lord's faithfulness in keeping his promise to 
their fathers : " I die, and God will surely visit you, and bring 
you out of this land." Gen. 50 : 24. 

4. Moses, when he was to go up to mount Nebo to die 
there, left many blessings, and gave many weighty charges 
to the children of Israel; we have his holy and ravishing 
words recorded in Deut. 32 and 33. And particularly, how 
pleasantly doth he commend God and his ways to the peo- 
ple : " He is the Hock, his work is perfect ; for all his ways 
are judgment ; a God of truth and without iniquity, just 
and right is he." Deut, 32 : 4. 

5. Joshua, when he was near his end, gave many solemn 
charges and exhortations to the people, which we have nar- 
rated in Joshua 23 and 24. There we may see the remark- 
able methods he takes to rivet impressions and convictions 
upon them, now when he can instruct them no longer. And 
particularly, he appeals to their consciences concerning the 
faithfulness of God in keeping his word to them, that so he 
might engage them to fidelity to him. " And behold, this 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



1G3 



day I am going the way of all the earth ; and ye know in all 
your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath 
failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake 
concerning you." Josh. 23 : 14. 

6. David, when his end was near, assembled the people, 
and solemnly charged them, as in the audience of God, to 
keep his commandments. 1 Chron. 28 : 8, 9. And partic- 
ularly, he charged his son and successor, Solomon, to know 
the God of his father, and to serve him with a perfect heart 
and with a willing mind. 

7. The apostle Paul, when taking his last farewell of 
the elders of Ephesus, most solemnly charges them to take 
heed to themselves and the flocks over which the Holy 
Ghost hath made them overseers. Acts 20 : 28. And how 
sweetly doth he sing in the view of approaching death : "I 
am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is 
at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 
eous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, 
but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 
4 : 6-8. 

In imitation of these scripture saints, the people of God 
in all ages have studied to glorify God and edify men at their 
death, by commending God and godliness to their friends 
and families. These we ought to teach by our example, 
both how to live and how to die, as others have done be- 
fore us. Thus said once a dying saint to his family, " I 
have formerly taught you how to live, and now I teach you 
how to die." 

Now, because in all ages the words of dying Christians 
have been much observed, and God hath remarkably blessed 
them to the establishment and confirmation, quickening and 
exciting of others to imitate them, I shall bring examples 
from hitman histories and writings, and mostly from Clark's 



164 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Lives, of sundry eminent saints whose graces have shone 
brightest, and their sayings been most heavenly, when the 
sun of their life was at the setting. 

1 . That old disciple Polycarp, when he came to the stake 
at which he was burnt, desired to stand untied, saying, 
" Let me alone ; for He that gave me strength to come to the 
fire, will give me patience to endure the flame without your 
tying." 

2. So holy Cyprian triumphed over death, saying, " Let 
him only fear death, who must pass from this death to the 
second death." "When he heard the sentence of death pro- 
nounced against him, he said, " I thank God for freeing me 
from the prison of this body." 

3. Basil, when the emperor Valens sent his officers to 
tempt him with great preferments to turn from the faith, 
rejected them with scorn, saying, "You may offer these 
things to children." And when they threatened him with 
sufferings, he said, "Threaten your purple gallants with 
these things, that give themselves to their pleasures." 

When Modestus the prefect threatened Basil to confiscate 
his goods, to torment him, to banish him, or kill him, he 
answered, " He need not fear confiscation, that hath nothing 
to lose ; nor banishment, to whom heaven only is a country ; 
nor torments, when his body would be dashed with one blow ; 
nor death, which is the only way to set him at liberty." 
The prefect telling him he was mad, he said, "I wish I may 
for ever be thus mad." 

4. Ignatius being led from Syria to Rome to be torn in 
pieces of wild beasts, expressed his fear lest it should hap- 
pen to him as to some others, that the lions out of a kind of 
reverence, would not dare to touch him. And therefore he 
often wished that " their appetites might be whetted to dis- 
patch him. For," said he, "the lions' teeth are but like a 
mill, which though it bruiseth, yet wasteth not the good 
wheat, only prepares and fits it to be made pure bread. Let 



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165 



me be broken by them, so I may be made pure mancliet 
for heaven." 

5. The great Mr. Knox, our reformer, when he lay dying 
was much in prayer, ever crying, " Come, Lord Jesus ; sweet 
Jesus, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Being asked 
by those that attended him if his pain Was great, he answer- 
ed that " he did not esteem that a pain which would be to 
him the end of all trouble and the beginning of eternal 
joys." Ofttimes, after some deep meditations, he said, "0 
serve the Lord in fear, and death shall not be terrible to 
you ; blessed is the death of those that have part in the death 
of Jesus." 

After a sore temptation from Satan formerly mentioned, 
over which he triumphed at length, he said, "Now the 
enemy is gone away ashamed, and shall no more return. 
I am sure now my battle is at an end, and that without 
pain of body or trouble of spirit, I shall shortly change 
this mortal and miserable life for that happy, immortal life 
which shall never have an end." After one had prayed for 
him, he was asked whether he heard the prayer ; he an- 
swered, " Would to God you had heard it with such an ear 
and heart as I have done;" adding, "Lord Jesus, receive 
my spirit." With which words, without any motion of 
hands or feet, as one falling asleep rather than dying, he 
ended his life. 

6. Dr. Gouge, when he was old and dying, was sore 
afflicted with the stone and other painful maladies ; yet, 
though by reason of his pains he was oft heard to groan, he 
never once murmured against the dispensations of God. He 
never cried out, a great sufferer, hut oft, a great sinner ; 
yet still comforted himself that there is a great Saviour. 
In his greatest torments he would say, "Well, yet in all 
these there is nothing of hell, or of God's wrath. Oh, my 
soul, be silent, be patient : it is thy God and Father that 
thus orders thine estate. Thou art his clay ; he may tread 



166 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



and trample upon thee as he pleaseth ; thou hast deserved 
much more. It is enough that thou art kept out of hell ; 
though thy pains he grievous, yet they are not intolerable, 
thy God affords some intermissions ; he will turn it to thy 
good, and at length put an end to all ; and none of these 
comforts can he expected in hell." In his greatest pains he 
often used holy Job's words, " Shall we receive good frcm 
the hands of the Lord, and not* evil also ?" "When any of 
his friends would have comforted him by telling him of his 
eminent gifts and service in the ministry, he would answer, 
" I dare not think of any such thing for comfort ; only Jesus 
Christ, and what he hath done and endured, is the ground 
of my sure comfort." The thoughts of death were pleasant 
to him, and he often termed death his best friend, next to 
Jesus Christ ; and he would bless God that he had nothing 
to do but to die. 

7. I have read of another minister peaceful under the 
like extreme pains. "When he was asked how he did, his 
frequent answer was, "The bush always burning, but not 
consumed ; though my pains are above the strength of na- 
ture, yet they are not above the supports of grace." He 
would pray, "Lord, drop comfort into these bitter waters of 
Marah. Let the blood of sprinkling, which extingnisheth 
the fire of thine anger, allay my burning pain. Oh, if my 
patience were greater, my pains would be less. Lord, give 
me patience, and inflict what thou wilt. This is a fiery 
chariot, but it will carry me to heaven. 0 my God, break, 
open the prison door, and set my poor captive soul free ; I 
desire to be dissolved, but enable me willingly to wait thy 
time." He would again cry, "When shall the time come, 
that I shall neither sin more, nor sorrow more ? Lord, keep 
me from dishonoring thy name by impatience. Oh, who 
would not, even in burnings, have honorable thoughts of 
God ? Lord, thou givest me no occasion to have hard 
thoughts of thee. Blessed be God, for the peace of mine 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



167 



inward man, when my outward man is so full of trouble. 
This is a bitter cup, but it is of my Father's mixing ; and 
shall I not then drink it ?" 

8. Mrs. Jean Askew, who was a martyr in king Henry's 
reign, thus subscribed to her confession in Newgate : " Writ- 
ten by me Jean Askew, that neither wisheth death, nor 
feareth its might, and as merry as one bound towards 
heaven." When the chancellor sent her letters at the stake, 
offering her the king's pardon if she would recant, she re- 
fused to look upon them, giving this answer : that " she 
came not hither to deny her Lord and Master." 

9. Mr. James Bainham, when he was at the stake in 
the midst of the burning fire, which had consumed his legs 
and arms, spoke these words: "0, ye papists, behold, ye 
look for miracles, and here now ye may see a miracle ; for 
in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were on a bed of 
down ; it is to me as a bed of roses." 

10. John Lambert, as he was burning in Smithfield, and 
his legs were quite consumed with the fire, lifted up his 
hands, his fingers flaming like torches, but his heart abound- 
ing with comfort, and cried out, "None but Christ, none 
but Christ." 

11. Mr. Robert Grlover, a little before his death, had lost 
the sense of God's favor, for which he was in great heavi- 
ness and sorrow ; but when he came within sight of the 
stake at which he was to suffer, he was on a sudden so filled 
with divine comfort, that clapping his hands together, he 
cried out to his servant, " He is come, he is come ;" and so 
died most cheerfully. 

12. It was a saying of Augustine, "Boughs fall off trees, 
and stones out of buildings ; and why should it seem strange 
that mortal men die ?" 

13. Mr. John Dodd had so violent a fever, that there 
was but little hope of his life ; yet at length his physician 
coming tc him, said, " Now I have hope of your recovery." 



168 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



To whom Mr. Dodd answered, "You think to comfort me 
with this, but you make my heart sad. It is as if you should 
tell one who had heen sore weather-beaten at sea, but 
thought he had now arrived at the haven where his soul 
longed to be, that he must go back again*to be tossed with 
&ew winds and waves." 

He would often say in his last sickness, " I am not afraid 
to look death in the face. I can say, Death, where is thy 
sting? Death cannot hurt me." 

He used to say, " The knowledge of two things would 
make one willing to die ; namely, What heaven is, and that 
it is mine." " Yes," said one, " if a man were sure of that." 
To whom he answered, " Truly, assurance is to be had; and 
what have we been doing all this while ?" 

Some others of the sayings of this holy man were so 
pithy and remarkable, I cannot pass them here. 

Mr. Dodd once visited a godly minister on his death-bed 
who was much oppressed with melancholy, and complained 
to him, "Oh, Mr. Dodd, what will you say of him who is 
going out of the world, and can find no comfort ?" To whom 
Mr. Dodd answered, " What will you say of our Saviour 
Christ, who when he was going out of the world, found no 
comfort, but cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me ?" He said of afflictions, "They are God's po- 
tions, which we may sweeten by faith and faithful prayer ; 
but we, for the most part, make them bitter, putting into 
God's cup the evil ingredients of our impatience and unbe- 
lief." He called death, "the friend of grace, though it be 
the enemy of nature ; for whereas the word, sacraments, 
and prayer do but awaken sin, death kills it." He used to 
say, " A man is never in a hard condition unless he have a 
hard heart and cannot pray." He instructed Christians how 
they should never have a great nor lasting affliction, and 
that was by looking unto the things that are not seen, which 
are eternal. 2 Cor. 4 : 17, 18. For what can be great to 



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169 



him that counts the world nothing ; and what can be long 
to him that counts his life but a span long ? When he saw 
a Christian look sad, he would say as Jonadab did to Am- 
nion, "Art thou a king's son, and lookest so ill?" And 
when such complained to him of their losses and crosses, he 
would use the words of Eliphaz to Job : " ' Do the consola- 
tions of God seem small unto you ?' God hath taken from 
you your children or your goods, but he hath not taken from 
you himself, his Christ, nor his Spirit, nor heaven, nor eter- 
nal life." 

To a friend of his that rose from a mean to a great estate, 
he sent word, that "this was but as if he should go out of 
a boat into a barge or ship ; but he ought seriously to re- 
member, that while he was in this world, he was but float- 
ing upon a sea." 

He often said, that if it were lawful to envy any, he 
would envy those that turn to God in their youth ; whereby 
they escape much sin and sorrow, and are like Jacob that 
stole the blessing betimes. He used to compare reproofs 
-given in a passion to scalding potions, which the patient 
could not take down ; in reproofs, we should labor for meek 
ness of wisdom, using soft words and hard arguments. 

He was a most popular minister, but much persecuted 
Once he took a journey to see his father-in-law Mr. Green 
ham, and to bemoan himself to him on account of his crosses 
and hard usage. Mr. Greenham having heard all he could 
say, answered him thus: "Son, son, when affliction lieth 
heavy, sin lieth light." Mr. Dodd used oft to bless God for 
this speech, saying, " If Mr. Greenham had bemoaned him 
as he expected, he had done him much hurt." He forgot 
not this saying in his old age, but made excellent use of it 
for himself and others. 

14. (Ecolampadius, that famous divine of Switzerland, 
when lying on his death-bed, and being asked whether the 
light did not offend him, answered, pointing to his breast, 

Affl. Man's Comp. § 



170 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Hie sat lucis, "Here is abundance of light;" meaning of 
comfort and joy. He asked one of his friends, "What news?" 
His friend answered, " None." " Then," saith he, " I will tell 
you some news ; I shall presently he with my Lord Christ.. 3 ' 

15. A certain godly man passing through his last sick- 
ness with extraordinary calmness of conscience, being asked 
by some of his friends about it, answered, that "he had 
steadfastly fixed his heart upon that sweet promise, 'Thou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee ; 
because he trusteth in thee.' " Isa. 26 : 3. "And my God," 
said he, "hath graciously made it fully good unto my soul." 

16. Mr. Robert Bolton, minister at Broughton, well 
known by his writings, in the time of his last sickness, 
which was long and sharp, often breathed out these words : 
" Oh, when will this good hour come; when shall I be dis- 
solved; when shall I be with Christ?" Being told, that to 
be dissolved was indeed better for him, yet it would be bet- 
ter for the church that he would stay here ; he answered, 
"If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring 
me again, and show me both it and his habitation; out if 
otherwise, lo, here I am, let him do what seemeth him good." 
Being asked by another, if he could not be content to live, 
if it pleased God, he answered, " I grant that life is a great 
blessing of God, neither will I neglect any means that may 
preserve it ; and do heartily submit to God's will : but of the 
two, I infinitely desire more to be dissolved and to be with 
Christ." He bade all that came to see him make sure of 
Christ before they came to die ; and look upon the world 
now as a lump of vanity. He encouraged the ministers that 
came to him to be diligent and courageous in the work of 
the Lord, and not to faint nor droop for any affliction that 
should meet them in it. 

"When he found himself very weak, he called for his wife 
and children. He desired her to bear his dissolution, which 
was near at hand, with a Christian fortitude; a thing be 



THE SICK. AND DYING. 



171 



had been preparing her for by the space of twenty years; 
and bade her make no doubt but she should meet him again 
in heaven. He exhorted his children to remember those 
things he had frequently told them before ; adding, that 
"he hoped and believed that none of them durst think of 
meeting him at that dread tribunal in an unregenerate 
state." 

Some of his parishioners coming to watch with him, it 
was requested, that as by his instructions he had taught 
them the exceeding comforts that were in Christ, so he 
would now tell them what he felt in his own soul. "Alas," 
said he, "do you look for that of me now, that want breath 
and strength to speak ? I have told you enough in my min- 
istry : but yet, to satisfy you, I am by the wonderful mercies 
of God, as full of comfort as my heart can hold ; and I feel 
nothing in my soul but Christ, with, whom I heartily desire 
to be." And observing some weeping, he looked to them 
and said, "Oh, what an ado there is before one can die." 

When the pangs of death, were upon him, being told 
that some of his dear friends were about him to take theii 
last farewell, he caused himself to be raised up in his bed 
and after a few gaspings for breath, he said, "I am now 
drawing on apace to my dissolution : hold out, faith and pa- 
tience; your work will speedily be at an end." And then 
shaking them all by the hand, he prayed heartily and par- 
ticularly for them, and desired them to make sure of heaven, 
and to bear in mind what lie had formerly told them in 
his ministry, protesting to them that the doctrine he had 
preached to them for the space of twenty years was th« 
truth of God, as he should answer it at the tribunal cf 
Christ, before whom he should shortly appear. 

"When he was struggling with death, a very dear friend 
taking him by the hand, asked him if he felt not much pain, 
M Truly, no," said he, "the greatest I feel is your cold hand." 

17. Mr. John Holland, a godly minister, continued his 



172 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



usual practice of expounding the Scriptures in his family to 
the last; and the day before his death he called for a Bible, 
and causing some one to read the eighth chapter of Romans, 
he discoursed upon it verse by verse ; but on a sudden he 
said, " 0 stay your reading ; what brightness is this I see ; 
have you lighted up any candles?" A bystander said, "No, 
it is the sunshine;" for it was about five o'clock in a clear 
summer's evening. "Sunshine," said he, "nay, it is my 
Saviour's sunshine. Now, farewell world ; welcome heaven ; 
the day-star from on high hath visited my heart : 0 speak 
it when I am gone, and preach it at my funeral ; God deal- 
eth familiarly with man : I feel his mercy, I see his majesty, 
whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God 
knoweth; but I see things that are unutterable." And in 
this rapture he continued till he died. 

18. I knew, not long ago, an eminently godly man, 
G M , that fell into extraordinary raptures some- 
time before his death, such as his bodily strength and spirit 
were not able to support, though he had no sickness. Some- 
times he was so swallowed up and overcome by the mani- 
festations of God's love to his soul, that his words could not 
be well understood ; his natural color, heat, and strength, 
would so go off, that all about him would conclude him to 
be dying ; but when he was able to get words uttered, they 
were so heavenly and ravishing concerning the love of Christ 
and freeness of grace, that bystanders could not hear him 
without weeping. Sometimes ministers, when they came to 
visit him, and found him in these raptures, were forced to 
turn all their prayers in his behalf into praises ; except that 
they would put up some petitions to God, that " He might 
graciously spare and be tender of his weak body, and enable 
him to bear that load of loving-kindness God was pleased 
to let out to him, and which his present bodily strength was 
not sufficient for." Yea, they would be put to cry, "Lord, 
if it be thy will, hold thy hand, for he is but a clay vessel ; 



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173 



this new wine will burst the old bottle ; preserve him in life 
as a monument of the rich grace of God, for the conviction 
of atheists and carnal people, and for the confirmation of the 
faith of the children of God." Sometimes he would cry in 
abrupt expressions, "0, angels, help me to praise him; 0, 
saints, admire his love, and wonder at him." Again, "0 
flames of love ; my soul seeth Christ ; the heavens open ; I 
see a throne, and the Lamb in the.midst of the throne. 0 
what think ye of Christ ? my soul breathes, breathes towards 
him ; my spirit is exhaled out of me by the manifestations 
of God." He used frequently to say with a heavenly air to 
his friends, " 0 what think ye of Christ?" When his ecstasy 
did somewhat abate, so that he attained a pleasant calmness 
of thought and freedom of speech, he would discourse of the 
mysteries of religion, the electing love of God, the freedom 
of grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the glorious 
contrivance of redemption through his death and sacrifice. 
I say, he would talk of these things more like an angel than 
a man ; for such was his heavenly eloquence, fluency of 
words, and facility of speaking upon these subjects, which 
otherwise was not natural to him, that those who came to 
see him were exceedingly surprised and astonished to hear 
him. His body gradually weakened under these raptures of 
spirit, and he longed much to leave the world, because he 
thought he could be so little useful in it for advancing God's 
honor. He reckoned himself bound to improve the short 
time he w r as like to have here, in commending Christ and 
religion to all he had access to, and also to admonish them 
of any thing he knew amiss in them, which he did most 
convincingly. And having occasion to see some who dispar- 
aged the established church, and the ordinances dispensed in 
it, he highly commended the ordinances, and told them that 
from his own sweet experience he could say, that God was 
to be found in them. He seemed to have sin wonderfully 
mortified ; for he complained of no other heart-plague but 



174 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



self, and it was his great exercise to get self wholly sub- 
dued ; he pursued it through many of its windings and lurk- 
ing places, and after all he would regret his little success 
against it. "For," said he, "when I am in my most ele- 
vated frames, and admitted to the nearest access to my 
Redeemer, the subtle enemy self will enter in with me, and 
offer to pull the crown off his head before my face." 

Once, after hearing a sermon on Psalm 85 : 8, "I will 
hear what God the Lord will speak," he broke out in a rap- 
turous discourse to one that came to see him, blessing God 
that he had spoken to him in that sermon. " And 0," said 
he, " what am I, that the Hock of Israel should have spoken 
to me these three sermon-days bygone, assuring me that all 
my sins are forgiven? What am I, a vile worm, that he 
should be so kind and condescending as to discover Christ 
and heaven in such a manner to me, and assure me that 1 
shall shortly be with him ? Oh, I thought that I had sinned 
him away from me, but I see he will not bide away. 0 
admirable grace ! 0 help me to praise him." 

When death drew near, there was some alteration in his 
case, yet he never questioned his interest in* Christ, but still 
asserted, " I know he is my God and my Redeemer, and I 
will shortly be with him." And once, when he was ready 
to complain for want of God's wonted manifestations, he 
said, " The Lord knew his body was now weak, and could 
not bear what formerly he had met with; yet," said he, 
" glory to his name, he hath given me three blinks since my 
last illness began." 

19. Dr. Harris, head of Trinity college in Oxford, in his 
last sickness used to exhort all about him to get faith above 
all things. "It is your victory, your peace, your life, your 
crown, and your chief piece of spiritual armor. Howbeit, 
get on all the other pieces, and go forth in the Lord's might. 
Stand to the fight, and the issue shall be glorious. Only 
forget not to call in the help of your General. Do all from 



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175 



him, and under him." On the Lord's-day he would not have 
any kept from the ordinances upon his account ; and when 
they returned from the sermons, he would say to them, 
" Come, what have you for me ?" And when any gave him 
account of what they had heard, he would resume the heads 
thereof, and say, " 0 what excellent truths are these. Lay 
them up carefully, for you will have need of them." "When 
friends came to visit him, he would say, " I cannot speak> 
but I can hear." Being asked where his comfort lay, he 
answered, "In Christ, and in the free grace of God." 

One telling him that he might take much comfort in his 
labors, and the good he had done, his answer was, " All is 
nothing without a Saviour; without him my best works 
would condemn me. Oh, I am ashamed of them, they are 
mixed with sin. I have done nothing for God as I ought. 
Oh, loss of time sits very heavy upon my spirits. Work, 
work apace ; assure yourselves nothing will more trouble you 
when you come to die, than that you have done no more for 
God, who hath done so much for you." 

Sometimes he used thus to breathe out himself: " I never 
in all my life law the worth of a Christ, nor tasted the 
sweetness of.God's love as now I do." Being asked by min- 
isters what they should chiefly request for him, he answered, 
"Do not only pray for me, but praise God that he supports 
me, and keeps off Satan from me in my weakness ; beg that 
I may hold out. I am now a good way home, near the 
shore ; I leave you tossing on the sea. 0 it is a good time 
to die in." 

In all his wills which he made, he took care this legacy 
should be inserted, "Item, I bequeath to all my children, 
and to their children's children, to each of them a Bible, with 
this inscription, None but Christ." He used to say, " It is 
a hard thing for a saint to forgive himself some faults, when 
God hath forgiven them." 

20. David Chitraus, when he lay dying, lifted up hi? 



176 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



head from the pillow to hear the discourse of his friends that 
sat by him, and said, that " he should die with the greater 
comfort, if he might die learning something." 

21. Mr. Cooper, when dying, said, "I saw not my chil- 
dren when they were in the womb, yet there the Lord fed 
them without my care or knowledge. I shall not see them 
when I go out of the body, yet shall they not want a father." 
Again* "Death is somewhat dreary, and the streams of that 
Jordan between us and our Canaan run furiously; but they 
stand still when the Ark comes." 

22. The reverend Mr. Halyburton, that shining light in 
St. Andrews, when dying, commended Christ and godliness 
with great earnestness to all that came to see him. He ex- 
horted his brethren to diligence in the ministry. " It was 
the delight of my heart," said he, "to preach the gospel. I 
desired to decrease, that the Bridegroom might increase ; and 
to be nothing, that he might be all. I repent that I did not 
more for him. 0 that I had the tongues of men and angels, 
to praise him." When he was advised to lie quiet, he said, 
" "Whereupon should a man bestow his last breath, but in 
commending the Lord Jesus Christ, God clothed in our 
nature, dying for our sins?" 

He caused to be read one of Mr. Rutherford's letters, that 
to Mr. John Mein, and then said, " That is a book I would 
commend to you all ; there is more practical religion in that 
letter, than in a book of a larger volume." 

He exhorted some ministers that came to see him to 
faithfulness. " As for the work of the ministry," said he, 
"it was my deliberate choice ; were my days lengthened out 
much more, and as troublesome as they are likely to be, I 
would rather be a contemned minister of God than the great- 
est prince on earth." He said, when taking farewell of his 
wife, children, and servants, " Here is a demonstration of the 
reality of religion, that I, a poor, weak, timorous man, as 
much afraid of death as any, am now enabled, by the power 



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177 



of grace, composedly and with joy to look death in the face. 
I dare look it in the face in its most ghastly shape, and hope 
within a little while to have the victory. I cannot hut com- 
mend the Lord Jesus. As far as my words will go, I must 
proclaim it, he is the best master that ever I saw." To his 
son he said, " If I had as many sons as there are hairs on 
your head, I would bestow them all on God." To some 
present, he said, " Sirs, I have great fears that a rational sort 
of religion is coming among us : I mean by that, a religion 
that consists in a bare attendance on outward duties and 
ordinances, without the power of godliness ; and thence peo- 
ple shall fall into a way of serving God which is mere deism, 
having no relation to Christ Jesus and the Spirit of God." 
He expressed his fears of a storm coming on the church of 
Scotland ; but he said, " The day would break, and the Lord 
would arise, and he hoped the church would be made a won- 
der, and the Lord say, Lo, this people have I formed for my- 
self. He can make a nation to be bom at once." He often 
cried with the spouse in the song, "When shall the day 
break, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my beloved, and 
be thou as a roe, or a young hart on the mountains of 
Bether." 

He said, " Shall I forget Zion ? Nay, let my right hand 
forget her cunning, if I prefer not Jerusalem to my chiefest 
joy. 0, to have God returning to this church, and his work 
going on in the world : if every drop of my blood, every bit 
of my body, every hair of my head, were all men, they should 
all go to the fire to have this work going on." He said, "If 
I should say that I would speak no more in the name of the 
Lord, it would be like a fire within me. I am calling you 
to see a miracle : God is melting me down into corruption 
and dust, and he is keeping me in a calm. I could not be- 
lieve that I could have borne, and borne cheerfully, this rod 
so long; this is a miracle, pain without pain; and this is 
not a fancy of a man disordered in his brain, but of one lying 

8* 



178 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



in full composure. 0 blessed be God, that ever I was born. 
I have a father and mother and ten brethren and sisters in 
heaven, and I shall be the eleventh. I shall shortly be at 
that glory that I have been long expecting. Worthy is the 
Lamb to receive glory." 

23. Mr. Hugh Mackaill, in his speech before his death, 
said, " I have esteemed the solemn engagements of this na- 
tion to the Lord pregnant performances of that promise, 
Isa. 44 : 5, where it is evident that where church reforma- 
tions come to any maturity, they arrive at this degree of 
saying, I am the Lord's, and subscribing with the hand unto . 
the Lord. So was it in the days of the reforming kings of 
Judah, and after the restoration from the captivity of Bab- 
ylon, in the days of JNTehemiah. This same promise did the 
Lord Jesus make yea and amen to us, when he redeemed us 
from spiritual Babylon. I glorify him, that he hath called 
me forth to suffer for his name and ordinances, and the solemn 
engagements of the land to him. Hereafter I will not talk 
with flesh and blood, nor think on the world's consolations. 
Farewell, all my friends, whose company hath been refresh- 
ing to me in my pilgrimage ; I have done with the light of 
the sun and moon. Welcome eternal life, everlasting glory. 
Praise to Him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb 
for ever." 

24. The famous Mr. Durham, in his last sickness, which 
was long and lingering, was visited by a minister, who said 
to him, " Sir, I hope you have so set all in order, that you 
have nothing else to do but to die." " I bless God," said Mr. 
Durham, "I have not had that to do these many years." 

25. The dying prayer of Mr. Rowland Nevant for his 
children was, that the Mediators blessing might be the por- 
tion of every one of them ; adding to them, I charge you 
all, see to it that you meet me on the right hand of Christ 
at the great day. When he was sometimes much spent 
with his labors, he would appeal to God, that though he 



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179 



might be wearied in his service, He would never he weary 
of it. Being often distressed in his body, he would say he 
was never better than in the pulpit, and that it was the 
best place that he could wish to die in. 

26. When Mr. Philip Henry was dying, his pains were 
very sharp. He said to his neighbors who came to see him, 
" Oh make sure work for your souls by getting an interest 
in Christ while you are in health; for if I had that work 
to do now, what would become of me ?" A little before his 
last illness, he wrote to a reverend brother, " Methinks it is 
strange that it should be your lot and mine to abide so long 
on earth by the stuff, when so many of our friends are divid- 
ing the spoil above ; but God will have it so ; and to be 
willing to live in obedience to his holy will, is as true an act 
of grace as to be willing to die when he calls." One asking 
him how he did, he answered, " I find the chips fly off apace, 
the tree will be down shortly." He v/as sometimes taken 
with fainting-fits, which when he recovered from, he would 
say, " Dying is but a little more." Once he said, after recov- 
ery, "Well, I thought I had been putting into the harbor, 
but I find I must go to sea again." 

27. Mr. Matthew Henry's death was somewhat sudden. 
A little before he died, he said to some about him, " You 
have been used to take notice of the sayings of dying men : 
this is mine, That a life spent in the service of God and 
communion with him, is the most comfortable and pleasant 
life that any one can live in this world." 

28. Holy and learned Mr. Rutherford, a little before his 
death, left a written testimony to our covenanted work of 
reformation ; and therein he proves the warrantableness of 
nations entering into covenant with God under the New 
Testament times, and shows that this practice is the accom- 
plishment of several Old Testament prophecies, such as Jer. 
50 : 4, 5 ; Isa. 2:3; Zech. 8:2; Isa. 19 : 23, 24, 25, which 
relate to gospel times ; and when he was dying, sent several 



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AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



messages to the presbytery of St. Andrews, desiring them to 
adhere to God's cause and covenant. In his sickness he 
often broke out in sacred raptures, extolling and commend- 
ing the Lord Jesus, whom he often called his blessed Master, 
his kingly King. When his death drew near, he said, "I 
shall shine, I shall see him as he is, I shall see him reign, 
and all his fair company with him, and I shall have my 
large share ; my eyes shall see my Redeemer, these very 
eyes of mine, and no other for me." "When exhorting one 
to be diligent in seeking God, he said, "It is no easy thing 
to be a Christian ; but for me, I have gotten the victory, 
and Christ is holding out both his arms to embrace me." 
He was wonderfully strengthened against the fears of death ; 
" For," said he, " I said to the Lord, if he should slay me 
five thousand times, I would trust in him ; and I spoke it 
with much trembling, fearing I should not make my boast 
good. But as really as ever he spoke to me by his Spirit ; 
he witnessed unto my heart that his grace should be suffi- 
cient for me." He said to some ministers that came to see 
him, " My Lord and Master is the chief of ten thousand of 
thousands ; none is comparable to him in heaven or in earth. 
Dear brethren, do all for him : pray for Christ, preach for 
Christ, feed the flock committed to your charge for Christ ; 
visit and catechize for Christ ; do all for Christ, and beware 
of man-pleasing. .Feed the flock out of love, the chief Shep- 
herd will appear shortly." Once when he recovered from 
a fainting-fit, he said, " I feel, I feel, I believe, I enjoy, I 
rejoice, I feed on manna." As he took a little wine in a 
spoon, Mr. Robert Blair said to him, " You feed on the dain- 
ties of heaven, and think nothing of our cordials on earth." 
He answered, " They are all but dung ; yet they are Christ's 
creatures, and in obedience to his command, I take them." 
After some discourse, Mr. Blair said to him, " What think 
ye of Christ ?" to which he replied, " I shall live and adore 
him. Glory, glory to my Creator, and to my Redeemer fo/ 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



]81 



ever. Glory shines in Emmanuel's land." Afterwards he 
said, "0 that my brethren did know what a Master I have 
served, and what peace I have this day. I shall sleep in 
Christ ; and when I awake, I shall be satisfied with his 
likeness." Then he said, "This night shall close the door, 
and put my anchor within the veil ; I shall go away in a 
sleep by five o'clock in the morning ;" which exactly took 
place. That night, though he was very weak, he often had 
this expression, " Oh for arms to embrace him ! Oh for a 
well-tuned harp." 

When some spoke to him of his former carefulness and 
faithfulness in the work of God, he said, "I disclaim all 
that ; the gate I would go in at is ' redemption and forgive- 
ness of sins through his blood.' " His last words were, 
'Glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land." 

29. "When Hugh Kennedy, provost of Ayr, was dying, a 
minister said to him, " You have cause, sir, to be assured 
that the angels of God are now waiting at the side of this 
bed to convey your soul to Abraham's bosom ;" to whom 
his answer was, "I am sure thereof; and if the w r alls of 
this house could speak, they could tell how many sweet days 
I have had in fellowship with God, and how familiar he 
hath been with my soul." He was one of the greatest 
wrestlers with God there was in the age wherein he lived, 
and had most remarkable returns of prayer. The great 
Mr. Welsh, in a letter from France, said of him, " Happy is 
that city, yea, happy is that nation that hath a Hugh Ken- 
nedy in it ; I have myself certainly found the answers of his 
prayers from the Lord in my behalf." 

30. The great Mr. Robert Bruce, minister of Edinburgh, 
when dying through weakness and old-age, being asked by 
one of his friends how matters stood now between God and 
his soul, answered, " When I was young, I was diligent, 
and lived by faith on the Son of God ; but now I am old, 
and not able to do so much, yet he condescends to feed me 



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AFFLICTED MAN : S COMPANION. 



with lumps of sense." The morning before he died, he 
came to breakfast at table, and having eaten, as usual, one 
single egg. he said to his daughter, " I think I am yet hun- 
gry; you may bring another." But presently he fell into a 
deep meditation ; and having mused a while, he said, * Hold, 
daughter, hold ; my Master calls me." With these words 
his sight failed him, whereupon he called for the Bible ; but 
finding his sight gone, he said, " Turn to the eighth chapter 
of the epistle to the Romans, and set my finger on these 
words, ' I am persuaded that neither death nor life shall be 
able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus my Lord.' Now," saith he, " is my finger upon them ?" 
They told him it was. Then without any more, he said, 
" God be with you, my children ; I have breakfasted with 
you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night;" 
and so gave up the ghost. 

31. John Stewart, provost of Ayr, was a singularly pious 
man ; yet when he lay dying, he said to some about him, 
" I go the way of all flesh, and it may be some of you doubt 
nothing of my well-being ; yea, I testify, that except when 
I slept or was on business, I have not these ten years been 
without thoughts of God so long as I should be in going from 
my house to the Cross : and yet I doubt myself, and am in 
great agony, yea, at the brink of despair." But a day or 
two before he died, he turned his face to the wall from com- 
pany for two hours. Then Mr. Ferguson the minister com- 
ing in, asked what he was doing ; upon which he turned 
himself with these words : "I have been fighting and work- 
ing out my salvation with fear and trembling ; and now, I 
bless God, it is perfected, sealed, confirmed, and all fears 
are gone." 

32. Luther, when he fell sick, made his will, in which 
he bequeathed his detestation of popery to his friend and to 
the pastor of the church, and said, " 0 Lord God, I thank 
thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent 



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183 



person upon earth. I have neither houses nor lands, nor 
possessions, nor money, to leave. Thou, Lord, hast given 
me wife and children ; them, Lord, I give back unto thee ; 
nourish, instruct, and keep them. 0 thou Father of orphans 
and judge of the widow, as thou hast done to me, so do to 
them." 

In his last prayer, Feb. 18, 1546, he hath these words: 
" I pray God to preserve his gospel among us : for the pope 
and the council of Trent have grievous things in hand. 0, 
heavenly Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast revealed 
to me thy Son Jesus Christ, whom I believe, whom I profess, 
whom I glorify, and whom the pope and the rout of the 
wicked persecute and dishonor." Mr. Fox saith of Luther, 
"That a poor friar should be able to stand against the pope 
was a great miracle ; that he should prevail against the pope 
was a greater ; and after all to die in peace, having so many 
enemies, was the greatest of all." 

33. Mr. Joseph Alleine, a most faithful, laborious min- 
ister, being deprived of the use of his arms and legs before 
his death, was asked by a friend, how he could be so well 
contented to He so long in that condition. He answered, 
" What, is God my Father, is Jesus Christ my Saviour, and 
the Holy Spirit my sanctiner and comforter, and shall I not 
be content without limbs and health ? He is an unreasona- 
ble wretch that cannot be content with a God, though he 
had nothing else." 

"When his people of Taunton came to Dorchester to see 
him, he was much revived, and would be set up in the bed 
and have his curtains drawn aside; he requested them to 
stand round the bed, and caused his hand to be held out to 
them, that they might take it, as formerly when he had been 
absent from them. And though very weak, he spoke to 
them thus : "0 how it rejoiceth my heart to see your faces, 
and to hear your voices, though I cannot speak as heretofore 
unto you. Methinks I am now like old Jacob, with all his 



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AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



sons about him. Now you see my weak state ; thus I have 
been for many weeks since I parted with you, but God hath 
been with me. My friends, life is mine, death is mine ; in 
that covenant of which I preached to you, is all my salva- 
tion and all my desire ; although my body doth not prosper, I 
hope through grace my soul doth. I have lived a sweet life 
by the promises, and hope through grace to die by a promise. 
It is the promises of God that will stand by us. Nothing 
but God in them will sustain us in a day of affliction. My 
dear friends, I feel the power of the doctrines I preached to 
you, on my heart ; the doctrines of faith, of repentance, of 
self-denial, of the covenant of grace, of contentment, etc. 
0 thaLyou would live them over, now I cannot preach them 
to you. It is a shame for a believer to be cast down under 
afflictions, that hath so many glorious privileges, justifica- 
tion, adoption, sanctification, and eternal glory. We shall 
be as the angels of God in a little while : nay, to say the 
truth, believers that live in the power of faith, are, as it 
were, little angels already. 0, my friends, live like believ- 
ers ; trample this dirty world under your feet ; be not taken 
up with its comforts, nor disquieted with its crosses; you 
will be gone out of it shortly." 

"When they came to take leave of him, he would needs 
pray with them as well as his weak state did suffer hiim 
Then he said, "Farewell, my dear friends; go home and 
live over what I have preached to you, and the Lord provide 
for you when I am gone. Now I cannot preach to you, but 
let my wasted strength and useless limbs be a sermon to 
you. There are many professors who can pray well, and 
talk well, whom we shall find at the left hand of Christ an- 
other day. You have your trades, your estates, your rela- 
tions : be not taken up with these, but with God ; 0 live on 
him. For the Lord's sake, go home and take heed of the 
world, worldly cares, worldly comforts, worldly relations. 
Oh, let not my labors and sufferings, let not my wasted 



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185 



strength and useless limbs, rise up in judgment against you 
at the great day of the Lord." Then he said, " The Lord 
having given authority to his ministers to bless his people, 
accordingly I bless you in his name" — using the words he 
always used after a sacrament — "The Lord bless you and 
keep you; the Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and 
give you peace. And the God of peace, that brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the 
sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you 
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ : 
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 

In the morning his first words would be, which he also 
used in his health, "Now we have one day more, this is one 
more for God ; now let us live well this day, work hard for 
our souls, lay up much treasure in heaven this day, for we 
have but a few to live." 

Being taken to Bath, where he met with extraordinary 
kindness from strangers — for many resorted to him, to see 
him and hear him speak, having heard what a monument of 
mercy he was — he delighted himself much in the considera- 
tion of the Lord's kindness to him, and the tokens of love 
from strangers, and would often say, "I was a stranger, and 
mercy took me in ; in prison, and it came to me ; sick and 
weak, and it visited me." He had been much persecuted, and 
put in prison for no other crime but preaching the gospel. 

He had a most pious and affectionate wife, who waited 
closely upon him; to whom he said, "Now, my dear heart, 
my companion in all my tribulations and afflictions, I thank 
thee for all thy pains and labors for me at home and abroad, 
in prison and at liberty, in health and sickness." And he 
prayed that the Lord would requite her, fill her with 'all 
manner of grace and consolation, and support and carry her 
through all difficulties. 

He had some conflicts with Satan a little before his 



186 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



death. Once lie uttered these words: "Away, thou vile 
fiend, thou enemy of all mankind, thou subtle sophist: art 
thou now come to molest me, now that I am just going; 
now that I am so weak, and death upon me ? Trouble me 
not, for I am none of thine : I am the Lord's ; Christ is mine 
and I am his, his by covenant ; I have sworn myself to be 
the Lord's, and his I will be; therefore be gone." These 
last words he repeated often, pleading his covenant with 
God as a means to resist the devil and his temptations, 
When he looked on his- weak and wasted hands, he would 
say, " These shall be changed: this vile body shall be. made 
like to Christ's glorious body. 0 what a glorious day will 
the day of resurrection be ! Methinks I see it by faith. 
How will the saints lift up their heads and rejoice ; and how 
sadly will the wicked world look then. 0 come, let us make 
haste, our Lord will come shortly. If we long to be in 
heaven, let us hasten with our work ; for when that is done, 
away we shall be taken. 0 this vain, foolish, dirty world. 
I wonder how reasonable creatures can so doat upon it. 
What is in it worth looking after? I care not to be in it 
longer than while my Master hath work for me; either doing 
or suffering: were that done, farewell to earth." 

This eminent saint had this testimony given him by one : 
" It may be said of him, in as high a degree as of most saints 
on earth, that each thought was to him a prayer, each prayer 
a song, each day a Sabbath, each meal a sacrament, and so 
his life on earth a foretaste of that eternal repast to which 
he hath now arrived." 

34. The noble Marquis of Argyle, being a zealous friend 
of our covenanted reformation, was put to death May 27, 
1661. His friends contrived methods for his escape out of 
the castle of Edinburgh; but he thanked them, and told 
them he would not disown the good cause he had so pub- 
licly espoused, but resolved to suffer the utmost. When the 
sentence of death was passed by the parliament, on Satur- 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



day, Hay 25, he said, " I had the honor to set the crown 
upon the king's head, and now he hastens me to a better 
crown than his own." Then he was sent to the Tolbooth. 
His excellent lady embracing him when he entered, wept 
bitterly, saying several times, "The Lord will requite it." 
No one in the room could refrain from tears ; but the marquis 
himself was perfectly composed, and'said, " Forbear, forbear ; 
truly I pity them, they know not what they are doing : they 
may shut me in where they please, but they cannot shut out 
God from me. For my part, I am as content to be here as 
in the castle, and as content in the castle as in the tower of 
London" — where he was first put — " and as content there 
as at liberty ; and I hope to be as content upon the scaffold 
as any of them all." He added, that he remembered a scrip- 
ture cited lately to him by an honest minister in the castle, 
and endeavored to put it in practice : when Ziklag was taken 
and burnt, and the people spoke of stoning David, "he en- 
couraged himself in the Lord his God." All his short time, 
till Monday, he spent with the greatest serenity and cheer- 
fulness, and in the proper exercises of a dying Christian. 
He said to some ministers, allowed to be with him in the 
prison, that shortly they would envy him who was going be- 
fore them; and added, " Mind what I tell you : my skill fails, 
if you who are ministers will not either suffer much or sin 
much ; for though you go along with these men in part, if 
you do it not in all things, you are but where you were, and 
so must suffer : and if you go not at all with them, you shall 
but suffer." 

The marquis was naturally timorous, but he desired those 
about him to observe, as he could not but do, that the Lord 
had heard his prayers and removed all fear from him. And 
indeed his friends' work was to restrain and qualify his fer- 
vent longings after his dissolution, and not to support him 
under the near views of it. The Lord was exceeding kind 
to him at this time ; for on Monday morning, the day he 



188 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

Buffered, when he was in the midst of company, and throng- 
ed with subscribing papers relating to his estate, he was so 
overcome with a special manifestation from God, that he 
broke out in a rapture, and said, " I thought to have con- 
cealed the Lord's goodness, but it will not do : I am now 
ordering my affairs, and God is sealing my charter to a bet- 
ter inheritance, and just now saying to me, ' Son, be of good 
cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.'" After he had retired 
some time alone, when he opened the door, Mr. Hutcheson, 
one of the ministers that attended him, said to him, "What 
cheer, my lord?" He answered, "Good cheer, sir ; the Lord 
hath again confirmed and said to me, from heaven, ! Son, be 
of good cheer ; thy sins are forgiven thee.' " And he gushed 
out in abundance of tears of joy, so that he retired to the 
window and wept there. Afterwards he said in a perfect 
rapture to Mr. Hutcheson, " I think his kindness overcomes 
me : but God is good to me, and lets not out too much of it 
here, for he knows I could not bear it ; get my cloak, and 
let us go." But being told that the town-clock was kept 
back, so that the hour was not yet come, he answered, " They 
were far in the wrong ;" and presently kneeled down and 
prayed in a most sweet and heavenly manner, to the refresh- 
ment of all that were present. 

"When he was going out to the scaffold, he said, " I could 
die like a B-oman, but I choose rather to die as a Christian. 
Come away, gentlemen; he that goes first, goes cleanliest." 
When going down, he called Mr. James Guthrie to him, 
and embracing him in the most endearing way, took his 
farewell of him. Mr. Guthrie, at parting, addressed the 
marquis thus : " My lord, God hath been with you, he is 
with you, and God will be with you ; and such is my respect 
for your lordship, that if I were not under the sentence of 
death myself, I could cheerfully die for your lordship." So 
they parted for a short season, in two or three days to meet 
in a better place. 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



189 



The marquis, in his speech on the scaffold, hath these 
words : " God hath laid engagements upon Scotland ; we 
are tied by covenant to religion and reformation. Those 
that were then unborn are engaged to it, and it passeth the 
power of any under heaven to absolve a man from the oath 
of God." 

35. Mr. John Welsh was minister of the gospel at Ayr. 
Mr. Rutherford, in his preface to his Survey of Antinomian- 
ism, calls him "that apostolic, heavenly, and prophetical 
man of God ;" and tells us that he heard it from those who 
were witnesses of his life, that of every twenty-four hours 
he gave usually eight to prayer, and that he spent many 
nights in prayer to God, interceding for suffering Protestants 
abroad, as well as for his mother-church. Mr. Welsh, when 
prisoner in the castle of Blackness, and in the view of death — 
being condemned to it for maintaining the liberties of the 
church, though afterwards the sentence was changed into 
banishment- — hath these words, in a letter to his Christian 
lady : 

" I long to eat of that tree which is planted in the midst 
of the paradise of God, and to drink of the pure river, clear 
as crystal, that runs through the street of the new Jerusa- 
lem. I long to be refreshed, with the souls of them that are 
under the altar, who were slain for the word of God and the 
testimony that they held ; and to have those white robes 
given me, that I may walk in white raiment with those 
glorious saints who have washed their garments, anck made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Why should I think 
it a strange thing to be removed from this place to that 
where my hope, my joy, my crown, my elder Brother, my 
Head, my Father, my Comforter, and all the glorious saints 
are, and where the song of Moses and the Lamb is sung joy- 
fully ; where we shall not be compelled to sit by the waters 
of Babylon and hang our harps on the willow-trees, but shall 
take them up. and sing the new hallelujah, Blessing, honor 



190 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



glory, and power to Him that sits upon the throne, and to 
the Lamb, for ever and ever ? What is there under the old 
vault of the heavens, and in this old, worn earth, which is 
groaning under the bondage of corruption, that should make 
me desire to remain here ? I expect that new heaven and 
new earth wherein righteousness dwelleth, wherein I shall 
rest for evermore. I look to get an entry to the new Jeru- 
salem at one of the twelve gates, whereupon are written the 
names of the twelve tribes of Israel. I know that Jesus 
Christ hath prepared them for me. Why may I not then, 
with boldness in his blood, step into that glory, where my 
Head and Lord hath gone before me ? Jesus Christ is the 
door and the porter ; who then shall hold me out ? 0 thou 
fairest among the children of men, the delight of mankind, 
the light of the Gentiles, the glory of the Jews, the life of the 
dead, the joy of angels and saints, my soul panteth to be 
with thee. I refuse not to die with thee, that I may live 
with thee ; I refuse not to suffer with thee, that I may 
rejoice with thee. 0 when shall I be filled with his love? 
Surely if a man knew how precious it is, he would count all 
things but dross and dung to gain it. I long for that scaf- 
fold, or that axe, or that cord, that might be to me the last 
step of this my wearisome journey, to go to thee, my Lord. 
Who am I, that he should first have called me, and then 
constituted me a minister of the glad tidings of the gospel of 
salvation these many years ; and now last of all to be a suf- 
ferer for his cause and kingdom? These two points, first, 
that Christ is the head of the church ; secondly, that she is 
free in her government from all other jurisdiction, except 
Christ ; yea, as free as any kingdom under heaven, not onJy 
to convocate, hold, and keep her meetings and assemblies, but 
also to judge of all her affairs amongst her members and 
subjects : these are the cause of our sufferings. I would be 
most glad to be offered up as a sacrifice for these glorious 
truths ; but, alas, I fear that my sins, and the abuse of such 



THE SICK AND DYINC*. 



191 



glorious things as I have found, should deprive me of so fair 
a crown. Yet my Lord doth know, if he would call me to 
it, and strengthen me in it, it would be to me the most 
glorious day and gladest hour I ever saw in my life ; "but 
I am in his hands, to do with me whatsoever shall please 
him." 

This eminent saint spent much of his time in the mount 
of prayer and wrestling with God, was admitted to very 
intimate nearness with him, and had many secret things 
revealed to him from God. He used to say, " he wondered 
how a Christian could lie in bed all night, without rising to 
spend some of the night in prayer and praise." 

In his last illness he had a great weakness in his knees, 
caused by his continual kneeling at prayer ; the flesh became 
insensible and hard, like a sort of horn ; but when in his 
weakness he was urged to remit somewhat of his former self- 
denial, his answer was, "he had his life of God, and there- 
fore it should be spent for him." During his sickness he 
was so filled with the sensible enjoyment of God, that he 
was sometimes overheard in prayer to use these words : 
V Lord, hold thy hand, it is enough ; thy servant is a clay 
vessel, and can hold no more." 

36. Mr. Christopher Love, minister of Laurence-jury in 
London, was beheaded on Tower-hill, August 22, 1651, in 
the time of Cromwell, for suspected plotting against his 
government. His words on the scaffold were most pathetic 
and weighty : " Although," said he, " there is but little be- 
tween me and death, yet this bears up my heart, there is 
but little between me and heaven. It comforted Dr. Taylor 
the martyr, when he was going to execution, that there 
were but two stiles between him and his Father's house ; 
now there is a less distance between me and my Father's 
house— but two steps between me and glory. It is but 
lying down upon that block, and I shall ascend upon a 
throne. I am this day sailing towards the ocean of eternity, 



192 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



through a rough passage, to my haven of rest — through a 
Red sea to the promised land. Methinks I hear God say to 
me as he did to Moses, Go up to mount Nebo and die there ; 
so to me, Go up to Tower-hill and die there. Isaac said to 
himself that he was old, and yet he knew not the day of his 
death ; but I cannot say so. I am young, and yet I know 
the day of my death ; and I know the kind of my death, 
and the place of my death also. I am put to such a kind 
of death as two famous preachers of the gospel were put to 
before me ; John the Baptist and Paul the apostle were both 
beheaded. I read also in Rev. 20 : 4, ' The saints were 
beheaded for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus.' 
But herein is the disadvantage which I lie under in the 
thoughts of many ; they judge that I suffer not for the word 
of God or for conscience, but for meddling with affairs of 
state. To this I shall briefly 'say, that it is an old trick of 
Satan to impute the cause of God's people's sufferings to be 
contrivances against the state, when in truth it is their relig- 
ion and conscience they are persecuted for. The rulers of 
Israel would have put Jeremiah to death upon a civil ac- 
count, though indeed it was only the truth of his prophecy 
that made the rulers angry with him ; and yet, upon a civil 
account, they pretend he must die, because he fell away to 
the Chaldeans, and would have brought in foreign forces to 
invade them. The same thing is laid to my charge, of 
which I am as innocent as Jeremiah was. So with Paul ; 
though he did but preach Jesus Christ, yet his enemies 
would have had him put to death under pretence that he 
was a mover of sedition. Upon a civil account, they pre- 
tend, my life is to be taken away ; whereas it is because I 
pursue my covenant, and will not prostitute my principles 
and conscience to the ambition and lust of men. I had 
rather die a covenant-keeper, than live a covenant-breaker. 
Beloved, I am this day making a double exchange : I am 
changing a pulpit for a scaffold, and a scaffold for a throne ; 



THE SICK AND DTINO. 



193 



and I might add a third : I am changing the presence of 
this numerous multitude on Tower-hill for the innumerable 
company of saints and angels in heaven — the holy hill of 
Zion ; and I am changing a guard of soldiers for a guard of 
angels, which will receive me and carry me to Abraham's 
bosom. This scaffold is the best pulpit that ever I preached 
in. In my church pulpit, God through his grace made me 
an instrument to bring others to heaven, but in this pulpit 
he will bring me to heaven." Afterwards he said, " Though 
my blood be not the blood of nobles, yet it is Christian blood, 
minister's blood ; yea, more, it is also innocent blood. I 
magnify the riches of God's mercy and grace towards me, 
that I, who was born in Wales, an obscure country, and of 
obscure parents, should be singled out to so honorable suffer- 
ings. For the first fourteen years of my life, I never heard 
a sermon preached ; yet in the fifteenth year of my life it 
pleased God to convert me. Blessed be God, who not only 
made me a Christian, but also a minister, judging me faith- 
ful and putting me into the ministry, which is my glory. 
I had rather be a preacher in a pulpit than a prince upon a 
throne ; I had rather be an instrument to bring souls to 
heaven, than that all nations should pay tribute to me. 
Formerly I have been under a spirit of bondage ; yea, some- 
times I have had more fear in drawing out a tooth, than 
now I have for cutting off my head. When fear was upon 
me, death was not near ; now death is near me, my fear is 
vanished. I am comforted in this : though men kill me, 
they cannot damn me ; though they thrust me out of the 
world, yet they cannot shut me out of heaven. When I 
have shed my blood, I expect the full declaration of the 
remission of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. I am 
going to my long home, and ye to your short homes ; but I 
shall be at my home before ye be at yours." He prayed, 
that seeing " he was called to do the work which he never 
did, he might have the strength which he never had." 

Affl. Man'« Corny. 9 



194 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



Pr. Wild, in his elegy, hath these lines : 
" Methinks I hear beheaded saints above 
Call to each other, Sirs, make room for Love. 
Who, when he came to tread the fatal stage — 
Which proved his glory, and his enemies' rage— - 
His blood ne'er run to's heart; Christ's blood was there, 
Reviving it; his own was all to spare; 
Which, rising in his cheeks, did seem to say, 
Is this the blood you thirst for ? Take it, I pray. 
Spectators in his looks such life did see, 
That they appeared more like to die than he. 
Lightning, which filled the air with blazing light, 
Did serve for torches at that dismal night ; 
In which, and all next day for many hours, 
Heaven groaned in thunder, and did weep in showers : 
Nor do I wonder that God thundered so ; 
His Boanerges murdered lay below." 

37. Mrs. Joyce Lewis being condemned to be burnt for 
the Protestant religion in queen Mary's reign, when she 
heard that the writ for her execution was come, said to her 
friends, " As for death, I fear it not ; for when I behold the 
amiable countenance of Jesus Christ my dear Saviour, the 
ugly face of death doth not much trouble me." 

38. Bullinger of Zurich, in his sickness, said to his 
friends, " If the Lord will make any further use of me and 
my ministry in his church, I willingly obey him ; but if he 
please, as I much desire, to take me out of this miserable 
life, I shall exceedingly rejoice that he pleaseth to take me 
out of this corrupt and wretched age to go to my Saviour 
Christ. For if Socrates was glad when his death approached, 
because he thought he should go to Homer, Hesiod, and other 
learned men whom he expected to meet with in the other 
world; how much more do I joy, who am sure that I shall 
see my Saviour Jesus Christ, as also the saints, patriarchs, 
prophets, apostles, and all the holy men who have lived 
from the beginning of the world ? Now, when I am sure 
to see them, and to partake of their joys, why should I not 
willingly die, to enjoy their perpetual society and glory?" 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



195 



39. Mr. Theodore Beza, a famous pastor in Geneva, 
when he apprehended the approach of death, revised his 
will; and so, dismissing all worldly thoughts, wholly betook 
himself to expect the time of his departure, which he had 
much longed for. He often used the apostle's saying, " We 
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works ;" and that of Augustine : Domine quod ccepisti per- 
fice, ne in portu naufragum accidat — "Lord, perfect that 
which thou hast begun, that I suffer not shipwreck in the 
haven ;" and that saying of Bernard : Domine, sequemur 
te, per te, ad te, Te, quia Veritas ; per te, quia via : ad 
te, quia vita — " Lord, we will follow thee, by thee, to thee : 
thee, because thou art the truth ; by thee, because thou art 
the way ; to thee, because thou art the life." 

40. Melancthon of Wittemberg, Luther's dear compan- 
ion; said that " he much longed to be dissolved, and that 
for two reasons : that he might enjoy the much-desired pres- 
ence and sight of Christ and of the heavenly church, and 
that he might be freed from the cruel and implacable dis- 
cords of divines." 

41. Mr. John Bradford, a minister and martyr in queen 
Mary's reign, when the keeper told him that the next day 
he was to be burnt in Smithfleld, put off his cap, and lifting 
up his eyes to heaven, said, " I thank God for it ; it comes 
not now to me on a sudden, but as a thing waited for every 
day and hour ; the Lord make me worthy of it." One 
Cresswell offering to interpose for him, and desirmg to know 
what his request was, he said, "I have no request to make. 
If the queen give me my life, I will thank her ; if she will 
banish me, I will thank her ; if she will burn me, I will 
thank her ; if she will condemn me to perpetual imprison- 
ment, I will thank her." The chancellor pressing him to 
do as others had done, in hopes of the queen's mercy, he 
said, " My Lord, I desire mercy with. God's mercy ; that is, 
without doing or saying any thing against God and his truth. 



196 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

But mercy with God's wrath, God keep me from. God's 
mercy," added he, " I desire, and also would be glad of the 
queen's favor to live as a subject without clog on conscience ; 
but otherwise, the Lord's mercy is better to me than life. 
Life in his displeasure is worse than death, and death with 
bis favor is true life." 

In his letter to Dr. Cranmer, Dr. Ridley, and Dr. Lati- 
mer, he hath these words : " Our dear brother Rogers hath 
broken the ice valiantly. This day, or to-morrow at the 
utmost, hearty Hooper, sincere Saunders, and trusty Taylor 
will end their course and receive their crown. The next 
am I, who hourly look for the porter to open me the gates 
after them, to enter into the desired rest. God forgive me 
my unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy. Though 
I sutler justly — for I have been a great hypocrite, unthank- 
ful, etc., the Lord pardon me ; yea, he hath done it, he hath 
done it indeed — yet what evil hath he done ? Christ, whom 
the prelates persecute, his truth which they hate in me, had 
done no evil, nor deserved death. 0 what am I, Lord, that 
thou shouldst thus magnify me ? Is it thy will to send for 
such a wretched hypocrite in a fiery chariot, as thou didst 
send for Elias ?" 

In one of his meditations, after confession of sin, he said, 
" 0 what now may we do ; despair? no, for thou art God, 
and therefore good ; thou art merciful, and therefore thou 
forgivest sin ; with thee there is mercy and propitiation, and 
therefore tnou art worshipped. When Adam sinned, thou 
gavest him mercy before he desired it ; and wilt thou deny 
us mercy, who now desire the same? Adam excused his 
fault, and accused thee ; but we accuse ourselves, and ex- 
cuse thee ; and shall we be sent empty away ? How often 
in the wilderness didst thou spare Israel, and defer thy 
plagues at the request of Moses, when the people themselves 
made no petition to thee. Now, not only do we make our 
petitions to thee, but we also have a Mediator, far above 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



197 



Moses, to appear for us, even Jesus Christ, thine own Son ; 
and shall we, dear Lord, depart ashamed ? 0 merciful Lord, 
for thine own glory suffer not the enemy of thy Son . Christ, 
the Romish antichrist, thus wretchedly to delude and draw 
from thee our poor brethren, for whom thy dear Son once 
died. Suffer him not to seduce the ignorant with his vaiii 
opinion, that his false gods, his blind, mumbling, feigned 
religion, or his foolish superstition, doth give him such con- 
quests, such victories, and such triumphs over us. But, 0 
Lord, this is thy righteous judgment, to punish us with the 
tyrannical yoke of blindness, because we have cast away 
from us the sweet yoke of the wholesome words of thy Son 
our Saviour." 

In his letter to Mrs. Anna Warcup, he said, " My staff 
standeth at the door. I look continually for the sheriff to 
come for me ; I bless God I am ready for him. Now go I 
to practise that which I have preached. Now I am climb- 
ing up the hill ; it will cause me to puff and blow before I 
come to the cliff. The hill is steep and high, my breath is 
short, and my strength is feeble. Pray therefore to the Lord 
for me, that as I have now through his goodness even 
almost come to the top, I may by his grace be strengthened, 
not to rest till I arrive where I should be." 

He was remarkable for humility and self-abasement, 
t though a most eminent saint. He subscribed some of his 
letters, The most miserable, hard-hearted, unthankful sinner, 
John Bradford. A very painted hypocrite, John Bradford. 
Miserimus peccator, John Bradford. The sinful John Brad- 
ford. 

42. Mr. Edward Deering, a little before his death, said 
to his friends, " As for my death, I bless God I feel and find 
so much inward joy and comfort to my soul, that if I were 
put to my choice whether I would die or live, I would a 
thousand times rather choose death than life if it may agree 
with the holy will of God." 



198 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



43. Mr. Robert Rollock, when dying, prayed, " Lord, I 
have hitherto seen but darkly in the glass of thy word ; now 
grant that I may enjoy the eternal fruition of thy counte- 
nance, which I have so much desired and longed for. Haste, 
Lord, and do not tarry ; I am weary both of nights and 
days ; come, Lord Jesus, that I may come to thee. Break 
these eye-strings, and give me others : I desire to be dis- 
solved, and to be with thee ; haste, Lord Jesus, thrust thy 
hand into my body, and take my soul to thyself. 0 my 
sweet Lord, set this soul of mine free, that it may enjoy her 
husband." 

44. Galeacious Carracciolus, marquis of Vico, when 
dying, took leave of his wife and all his Christian friends, 
telling them he would lead them the way to heaven. And 
he cried to Jesus Christ, that " as he had sought Him all 
his life, so now He would receive and acknowledge him as 
his own." 

45. The famous Lord Duplesis in France, when dying, 
was much concerned for the church of God in distress, pray- 
ing earnestly for her deliverance. He particularly blessed 
such of his grandchildren as were in pursuit of learning, 
saying, that " he was assured they should be blessed with 
the blessings both of heaven above, and of the earth beneath." 
When a minister spoke of the service he had done the church 
by his writings, he said, "Alas, what was there of mine in 
that work ? Say not that it was I, but God by me." Then 
lifting up his hands above his head, he cried three times, 
" Mercy, mercy, mercy !" adding, that he did it to show 
that it was alone the mercy of God to which he had recourse. 
He declared that his faith was altogether founded on the 
goodness of God in Jesus Christ, who by the Father had been 
made unto him, as to all others that believed in him, wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. " Away," said 
he, " with all merit : I call for nothing but mercy, free mercy." 
When one was blessing God for giving him such peace and 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



199 



comlbrt at his end, he said, " I feel, I feel what I speak." 
As to his faith in the truths of God, he said "he was en- 
tirely persuaded thereof by the demonstration of God's Holy 
Spirit, which was more powerful, more clear, and more cer- 
tain than all the demonstrations of Euclid." When secretly 
praying, he was overheard saying in broken sentences, " I 
fly, I fly to heaven. Let the angels carry me to the bosom 
of my Saviour." Afterwards he said, <c I know that my 
Redeemer liveth, and I shall see him with these eyes : hisce 
oculis ;" which words he repeated four or five times. 

46. Jerome of Prague, when he was fastened to the 
stake, and the executioner began to kindle the fire behind 
him, bade him kindle it before his face ; "For," said he, "if 
I had been afraid of it, I had not come to this place, having 
had so many opportunities offered me to escape it." 

47. Mr. Hooker, a minister in New England, when one 
that stood weeping at his bedside as he lay dying, said to 
him, " Sir, you are going to receive the reward of all your 
labors;" replied, "Brother, I am going to receive mercy." 

48. Mr. Heron, another minister there, dying and leav- 
ing a family of many small children, his poor wife fell a 
weeping, and said, "Alas, what will become of all these 
children?" He pleasantly replied, "Never fear; He that 
feeds the young ravens, will not starve the young Herons." 
"Which afterwards came to pass accordingly. It was an 
ancient observation concerning the English martyrs under 
the bloody Marian persecution, that " none of them went 
more joyfully to the stake, than those who had the greatest 
families to commit unto the Lord." 

49. Chrysostom, when the empress Eudoxa, an Arian, 
sent a threatening message to him, said, " Go tell her, Nil 
nisi peccatum timeo, I fear nothing but sin." When he 
was sentenced to banishment, he said, " None of these things 
trouble me ; for I said before within myself, If the empress 
will, let her banish me ; the earth is the Lord's, and the ful- 



200 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



ness thereof. If she will, let her saw me asunder ; Isaiah 
was so used. If she will, let her cast me into the sea ; I 
will remember Jonah. If she will, let her cast me into a 
burning fiery furnace, or to the wild beasts ; the three chil- 
dren and Daniel were so served. If she will, let her stone 
me, or cut off my head ; I have St. Stephen and the Baptist 
for my companions. If she will, let her take away all my 
substance ; naked came I out of my mother's womb,- and 
naked shall I return thither again." 

But I must break off, for the time would fail me to enu- 
- merate the many instances of the faith, love, patience, hope, 
courage, and constancy of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, 
when in the view of death. Some have told the persecu- 
tors that "they might pull their hearts out of their bodies, 
but they could never pluck the truth out of their hearts." 
Others have said, that " if every hair of their heads were 
men, they should suffer death for Christ and his truths." 
"Oh," said one of them, "can I die but once for Christ?" 

Let these examples prompt us to seek grace from God, 
and make it our earnest study to imitate and follow such a 
cloud of witnesses, that we may die martyrs in resolution; 
that our graces may be most lively at the last, our evening 
sun may shine brightest, and we may go off the stage glori- 
fying God, and leaving a sweet savor behind us, as these 
famous worthies, whose praise is in the churches, have done 
before us. 

Direction 7. Let dying persons be much in prayer and ejacu- 
lations to God. 

Prayer is the native breath of renewed souls ; it is as 
necessary to their spiritual life, as breath is to the natural 
life. "Hide not thine ear at my breathing." Lam. 3 : 56. 
The first thing a child of God doth, when he is new-born, is 
to breathe by prayer. " Behold, he prayeth." Acts 9:11. 
And it is also his last work in the world to pray. "And 
they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



201 



Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried 
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. 
And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7 : 59, 60. 
A dying Christian hath many to pray for : he is to pray for 
the church of God, for his friends and relations, and also for 
his enemies, as Stephen did. But especially he must pray 
for himself, that sin may he forgiven, and that he may have 
a safe conduct through the dark valley. I have heard of 
some that have been found dead upon their knees ; a noble 
posture to die in. How suitable is it to enter praying into 
the land of praise. So did Stephen: yea, so did our blessed 
Saviour himself: "Father, forgive them, for they know not 
what they do. Father, into thy hands I commend my 
spirit." The last words that holy Usher uttered were, 
"But, Lord, in a special manner forgive my sins of omis- 
sion." "Lord," said dying Beza, "perfect that which thou 
hast begun; that I suffer not shipwreck in the haven." I 
remember to have read of an old minister who, when he 
found death approaching, said, " I desire to die like the poor 
thief, crying to the crucified Jesus for mercy. I am nothing, 
I can do nothing, except what is unworthy. My eye and 
hope and faith is to Christ on his cross. I bring an un- 
worthiness like that of the poor dying thief unto him, and 
have no more to plead than he. Like the poor thief cruci- 
fied with him, I am waiting to be received by the infinite 
grace of my Lord, into his kingdom." Let us in like man- 
ner die, crying to a crucified Jesus for mercy: "Lord, re- 
member me, now thou art in thy kingdom." 

0, dying Christians, remember, the time of prayer is 
near an end ; after death there will be no more occasion for 
prayer. 0, then, beg that the Spirit of prayer may be so 
poured down upon you at this time, that you may be enabled 
to pour out your heart before G-od, both for yourself and oth- 
ers. 0 how earnestly should you pray then, when you are 
taking your leave of prayer. Mind the example which your 

9* 



20* AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

Redeemer gave you ; it was "before his death that he offered 
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears 
unto God. I acknowledge sick and dying persons are fre- 
quently out of case for making prayers of any great length 
or continuance ; which consideration should excite us to the 
greater diligence in prayer in time of health, and therefore 
they ought to be the more frequent and fervent, in short and 
suitable ejaculations to God, as their exigencies do require. 

MEDITATIONS AND EJACULATIONS PROPER FOR A SICK AND DYING 
PERSON, AND ESPECIALLY FOR A DYING BELIEVER. 

0 Lord, thou art the God of my life, and hast the keys 
of death in thy hand. Thou hast measured the length of 
my life, and appointed the hour of my death. The number 
of my months and days is with thee, and thou hast appointed 
the bounds over which I cannot pass. 

"What is my life but a vapor, that appeareth for a little 
time and then vanisheth away ? At the longest, how short 
is it; and at the strongest, how weak. "What man is it 
that liveth here, and shall not see death? "When a few 
days are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not re- 
turn." God hath decreed it, sin hath deserved it, my frailty 
demonstrates it, death's harbingers proclaim it, and I must 
expect it. 

There is no discharge in this war, no exemption from 
death's stroke. Death's messengers are come to warn me 
that my last day and last hour draweth nigh. The sound 
of their Master's feet is behind them. This clay-house must 
be dissolved, my soul dislodged, and my place here shall 
know me no more ; I shall soon be as water spilt on the 
ground, that cannot be gathered up again. 

0 that I may be suitably exercised in my present weak 
and dying condition. "When my flesh faileth, and my heart 
fainteth within me, 0 that God may be the strength of my 
heart and my portion for ever. "When the keepers of the 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



203 



house do tremble, let God watch over it, and be the keeper 
of my soul. When the grinders cease, because they are few, 
let my soul be fed with manna from heaven. When the 
daughters of music are brought low, let my soul be disposed 
for hearing the song of Moses and the Lamb, in the temple 
above. When those that look out at the windows are dark- 
ened, let the eyes of my soul be enlightened to behold, with 
the dying martyr Stephen, the heavens opened, and the glo- 
rious Jesus standing at the right hand of God, making inter- 
cession for me and ready to receive me. Let my hope and 
desire look out at the windows, and say, "Why is his chariot 
so long in coming ; and why tarry the wheels of his chariot ? 
Make haste, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young 
hart on the mountains of Bether." 

0 that I may observe the afflicting hand of God in my 
present sickness. Surely affliction cometh not out of the 
dust, nor doth trouble spring out of the ground. 0 Lord, 
rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chasten me in thy hot 
displeasure. Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, for I am weak ; 
and heal me, for my bones are vexed. When thou with re- 
bukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty 
to consume away like a moth ; surely every man is vanity. 
The sorrows of my heart are enlarged ; 0 bring me out of 
my distresses. Look upon my affliction and my pain, and 
forgive all my sin. I look for sympathy to my great High- 
priest, who is touched with the feeling of my infirmities. 
My help and strength is in him. 

0 that when I am afflicted, I may not despise the chas- 
tening of the Lord, nor faint when I am rebuked of him. 
Let me hear the rod, and him that hath appointed it. Let 
me kiss the rod, and accept of the punishment of mine in- 
iquity. 0 that in my affliction I may be helped to humble 
myself greatly before the God of my fathers, and make a true 
and penitent confession of my sins. 

Oh, what shall I say to thee, 0 thou Preserver of men ? 



204 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



I will say, Lord, be merciful to me : heal my soul, for I have 
sinned against thee. I acknowledge that through an evil 
heart of unbelief, I have many a time departed away from 
the living God. 0 how vainly and foolishly have I lived in 
the world. How lavish of my precious time. How un- 
mindful of my latter end. How careless of my immortal 
soul. How little in preparation for eternity. Oh, my own 
heart condemns me, my sins testify against me; and thou 
who knowest them better than I do myself, together with 
their several aggravations, mightest justly condemn me too. 
But my comfort is, that with thee the Lord there is mercy, 
that thou mayest be feared ; and with thy Son there is plen- 
teous redemption ; wherefore, for his sake be pleased to for- 
give me all my past transgressions, whether in thought, 
word, or deed — those that I remember, and those that I 
have forgotten — and let them never be charged on me to 
my shame and confusion in this world, nor to my everlasting 
ruin in that which is to come. Lord, forgive the follies of 
my childhood, the extravagances of my youth, and all the 
iniquities of my riper years. 

Oh, I am polluted with sin, and dare not appear before 
God with my own filthy rags upon me. When Adam lost 
his original righteousness, he fled from God, and dreaded 
the summons of offended justice. Now, there is no appear 
ing before God with acceptance, but in the garment of hi& 
Son my elder brother. None can have boldness to enter 
into the holiest of all, but by the blood of Jesus. 0 enable 
me to disclaim whatever duties I have performed, or graces 
I have exercised, and to rely on a crucified Christ alone for 
pardon and life. Though thou slayest me, let me die trust- 
ing in and cleaving to a crucified Jesus. 

Now the powers of darkness will seek to raise a tem- 
pest to shipwreck the vessel of my soul, when it would 
enter into the eternal haven. 0 that, like the wise mariner 
when the storm approacheth, I may endeavor to secure the 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



205 



vessel with the anchors of faith and hope fastened on the 
Rock Christ, 

0 that, when the time of combat with my last enemy 
cometh, I may, above all, take the shield of faith, whereby 
I may be sheltered from the sting of death, and may quench 
the fiery darts of the wicked one. 

0 that the Lord of hosts, the Captain of my salvation, 
may be with me in my last conflict, and may help me to 
put on the whole armor of God, and give me skill to use it, 
that I may be able to stand in the evil day. Teach my 
hands" to war and my fingers to fight, that through thee 
I may do valiantly, and tread down all my enemies. 0 
that now I may finish my course, and fight the good fight 
of faith, that at death I may receive the crown of righteous- 
ness, which the righteous Judge will give to all that love 
his appearing. 0 that my faith may ripen into a full assur- 
ance, that I may go off the stage with joy, and an abundant 
entrance may be administered unto me into the kingdom of 
my I^prd and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

0 that the night of my death may shine bright with the 
sparkling stars of heavenly graces. Lord, increase my 
faith. Let the pilgrim's staff of faith be never out of my 
hand till I come to my journey's end. 0 let me get Christ 
all in my arms, like old Simeon before his death, that I may 
say, like him, " Now let thy servant depart in peace ; for my 
eyes have seen thy salvation." Kindle the fire of heavenly 
love in my soul, and give me a taste of heavenly joys. 0 
for one beam of thy light, to banish away all my doubts and 
fears. Lord, let in something of heaven to my soul, before 
itself go into heaven. 

Lord, take me not out of this life till thou hast fitted me 
for a better. May I be fitted for heaven before I leave the 
earth, and finish my work before I finish my course. Make 
me ready to meet thee at thy coming, that so thy coming 
may not be the matter of my terror, but the matter of my 



206 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



hope, desire, and expectation. 0 that I may be in a longing 
frame for that blessed time, when he will come and put a 
period to all my sins, sorrows, troubles, and temptations 
•here ; and when I shall exchange my present being in the 
body, for an everlasting being with the Lord. Lord, 
strengthen my faith and hope, so that neither the sweetness 
of life, the pain of death, nor apprehensions about my future 
state, may make me unwilling to die. Is my Redeemer 
ascended, and gone before me to prepare a place for me ? 
Why then should I be slothful to go in and possess the 
good land ? 

Mercy hath filled up all my life, and brought me near to 
the end of it. 0 let it not leave me now, when all the 
enjoyments of the world are nothing to me, and I am to 
take an everlasting farewell of them all. Now one smile of 
thy face, one taste of thy love, would be strength and joy to 
my departing soul. 0 remember the word to thy servant, 
upon which thou hast caused me to hope: hast thou not 
said, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ?" 0 fulfil 
this word to me in the time of my need : 0 let me never go 
off the stage with a heavy heart, or a guilty conscience ; but 
may I depart in peace, and sleep in Jesus. Let me breathe 
out my departing soul to thee, and trust it in thy hand and 
safe-keeping ; and let my flesh rest in hopes of rising glori- 
ously at the last day, through him who is the resurrection 
and the life, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Love and praise is the exercise of saints for ever ; may I 
be acquainted with it here. 0 shall I not love and praise 
him, who hath forgiven all mine iniquities, healed all my 
diseases, redeemed my life from destruction, and crowned 
me with loving-kindness and tender mercies ? He hath 
caused goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my 
life ; and shall I not follow him with praises at the end 
of it? 

Now the time of my departure is at hand, and the lamp 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 207 

of life is ready to be extinguished. 0 that I may die in 
faith, that whether the lamp go out of its own accord, or by 
some sudden blast, it may be lighted again by the immortal 
beams of the Sun of righteousness. And though I be over- 
taken by the sleep of death and lie down in the bed of the 
grave, yet shall I awake again in the morning of the 
resurrection, that morning which shall never be succeeded 
by an evening ; when I shall behold thy face in righteous- 
ness, and be eternally satisfied with thy likeness. 

Now I am going the way of all the earth, ready to 
launch forth into eternity, where I shall be fixed in my 
everlasting condition. Grant me, Lord, the perfect use of 
my senses, of my understanding and reason, that I may 
glorify thy name and edify my neighbors to the last moment 
of my departure ; and now, when I am to conflict with the 
king of terrors, 0 support and assist me in my sorest 
extremities and last agonies. 0 mercifully mitigate death's 
pangs, and let my passage be easy and my landing safe. 
Stand by me in my dying moments, and secure my soul in 
thy hands from all its deadly enemies ; and when I am 
numbered among the dead, let me also be numbered among 
the redeemed and blessed of the Lord for ever. 

0 Lord, thou determinest both the bounds of man's life 
and the bounds of his habitation. If a hair of my head can- 
not fall to the ground without thy providence, far less can 
my whole body fall into the grave without it. Thou hast 
told me plainly that I must die, but mercifully hast con- 
cealed the time, place, and manner, that I might always 
stand upon my guard, every hour expect thy coming, and 
have my accounts in my hand, always prepared to give 
them up to thee my Judge. Justly mightest thou have 
snatched me away by a surprising call and sudden stroke ; 
but in thy goodness thou givest me warning, and time to 
set my house and soul in order. 0 graciously finish what 
is now wanting of the work of thy grace in my heart and 



208 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



soul, and thoroughly accomplish and furnish me to appear 
in thy blessed presence. May I now die to sin every hour, 
that I may not die for sin hereafter. Cause sin wholly to 
die before me, that it may not rise in judgment against me 
after death. 

0 God, be thou my refuge and strength, and a very 
present help in trouble ; and then I will not fear though the 
waters of affliction rage and be troubled, and though all the 
mountains of earthly comforts shake with the swelling 
thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make 
glad the city of God. 0 let my soul dwell beside those 
living streams, and drink of them for ever. In the valley oi 
the shadow of death, Lord, be thou present as the good 
Shepherd, with thy guiding rod and supporting staff ; and 
make my departure easy and full of peace and hope. 
Lord, carry me safe through the dark passage upon which 
I am entering, and let me find it a gate of glory, a door 
opened into the everlasting kingdom and joy of the Lord. 
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, and let it be presented, justified 
and spotless, to the Father, that it may come to the spirits 
of just men made perfect, and join with them in singing the 
new song, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath 
redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, honor, 
glory, and blessing for ever. Amen." 

MEDITATIONS FOR DROOPING BELIEVERS WHEN DEATH IS NEAR. 

Travellers who have met with many storms, troubles, 
and dangers in their journeys, rejoice when they come near 
to their own country ; and shall not I, a stranger and pil- 
grim, that have been long wandering in a wilderness, be 
glad when I come near my blessed home, my dear friends, 
and eternal habitation ? 

With what cheerfulness do some women endure the 
pains of childbearing, being supported by the hope of a 
child's being born into the world. And what is the joy of 



THE SICK A 1ST D DYING-. 



209 



a man-child being brought into this sinful and miserable 
world, to the joy of a sanctified soul's being brought out of 
it into heaven for ever? It is pleasant when the hard 
winter goeth over, and the time of the singing of birds, the 
messengers of spring, doth come ; and shall not I rejoice 
when sickness and forerunners of death do tell me that the 
winter of my darkness and trouble is past, and the summer 
of my eternal light and joys is at hand ? 

What though death be the king of terrors, is not glorious 
Christ the King of comforts ? Have not I met already with 
this blessed King ; and why should I fear to meet with the 
other ? Oh let my strength and support at this time come 
from Christ, my covenanted Redeemer. 

0 Lord, deliver my soul from death, mine eyes from 
tears, and my feet from falling. 0 bring me out of the miry 
clay, set my feet upon a rock, and establish my goings, and 
put a new song in my mouth, even praises to our God. 

If Jacob went down so cheerfully into Egypt when God 
had said unto him, "Fear not to go down, for I will go down 
with thee, and I will bring thee up again," why should a 
believer fear to go down to the grave, when God hath un- 
dertaken to go down with him thither and to bring him up 
again ? His body may be turned into dust, but God is in 
covenant with. his dust, and will not suffer the least particle 
of it to be lost. 

Are not the righteous taken away from the evil to come ? 
Do they not rest in their beds and enter into peace ? Why 
then should I shrink from dying ? When the Lord is to 
bring heavy wrath and judgments upon a land, he frequently 
houses many of his people in heaven beforehand ; and how 
happy are those that win the house before the sweeping 
hail-shower doth fall. A believer needeth not to look for 
any settled fair weather in this world : it will be nothing 
but one shower up and another down, till he be housed in 
heaven. Oh why, then, should I linger in this wilderness ? 



210 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



How highly honored is the "believer in being made an 
heir of God, and a joint-heir with his own Son Jesus Christ ; 
so that Christ and the believer do, as it were, divide heaven 
between them : they have the same Father, dwell in the 
same house, sit at the same table, reign on the same throne, 
and partake of the same glory. Oh what honor is this 
which is put on a worm of the earth. It is indeed but little 
that the young heir enjoys of the inheritance while in this 
world ; no more than will serve to bear his charges to 
heaven, where he shall get all, forget his present straits, and 
remember his poverty no more. Oh why then should not 
I, like a young heir, be looking and longing for the expiring 
of my minority, when I shall arrive at ripe age, and enter 
upon the full possession of the inheritance ? Oh that I could 
send out faith and hope, those two faithful spies, to survey 
the promised land, or at least to visit the borders of my elder 
Brother's country ; what an encouraging report would they 
bring back ! My glorious Lord is gone ; he hath left the 
earth, and entered into his glory ; my brethren and friends 
have many of them arrived there also. How great is the 
difference between my state and theirs. I am groaning out 
my complaints, but they are singing God's praise. I am in 
darkness, and cannot see God, but they are in light, and see 
him face to face. 0 my Lord, shall I stay behind when 
they are gone ? Should I be satisfied to wander in the wil- 
derness, far distant from my Father and my God, when they 
are triumphing above, dividing the spoil ? No ; I will look 
still after them with a steadfast eye, and cry, 0 Lord, how 
long ? I will wait now in hope, yea, rejoice in the forethoughts 
of the day when my minority shall be expired, my pilgrim- 
age finished, my banishment over, that I may get home to 
my country and friends above. 

What though my days be dark and gloomy now, my 
winter be sharp and stormy : why, it is but short, and nearly 
over; the eternal summer approacheth ; the long day, the 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



211 



high sun, and the fair garden of my well-belcved above these 
visible heavens, will quickly make amends for all. Let me 
get up by faith and visit the new land, view the fair city, and 
behold the white throne, and the Lamb that sits thereon, 
that I may rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

Shall many of the heirs of wrath go singing and rejoicing 
to hell ; and will an heir of God go drooping and sorrowing 
to heaven ? Oh, let me not, by my behavior on a death- 
bed, bring up a bad report upon Christ's good way ana" the 
land which he hath purchased. 

Have I such great and precious promises left me, and 
shall I not live and feed upon them in time of my need ? 
Shall I not trust the word of Him that is faithful and true ? 
Hath he not said to me, " When, thou passest through the 
waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they 
shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through the 
fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle 
upon thee?" When the disciples were sore tossed with 
winds and waves, thou earnest to them in the fourth watch 
of the night, walking on the waters ; and when their fears 
were increased, thou saidst, "It is I; be not afraid." Thou 
rebukedst the winds, and there presently followed a great 
calm. My Redeemer's compassions continue ; his bowels 
of mercy still yearn over our sorrows, as in the days of his 
flesh. " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
ever." 

Ah, I have too little improved my acquaintance with 
precious Christ in the day of my life ; how ready am I to 
mistake him when he changeth his dispensations towards 
me. Though I have been long at Christ's school, what 
small proficiency have I made in the work and mystery of 
faith. How little have I learned to believe in the dark, and 
to drop anchor at midnight upon the Hock of ages, and to 
look out for the dawning of the day. 

Surely the day shall break, and the shadows flee away ; 



212 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



my King cometh ; my well-beloved is on his way ; he hath 
sent his letter before him to warn me of it, saying, " Behold, 
I come quickly." Oh that like the cold and wearied night- 
watchman, I may be looking out for the appearing of the 
morning-star and the breaking of the eastern sky ; and m&y 
be ever crying, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 

Thou hast said, " Light is sown for the righteous, and 
gladness for the upright in heart." Surely God's seed shall 
not lie always beneath the clods ; the time is at hand when 
it shall spring, and joyful will the crop be at last. Oh that 
like David in affliction, I could encourage myself in the Lord 
my G-od, and say, " The Lord liveth, blessed be my Rock." 
Why should I droop while my Lord liveth, and my Rock 
standeth ? My hopes may die, my comforts may die, my 
gifts die, my riches die. my relations die, my body die ; but, 
good news, " The Lord liveth, blessed be my Rock." The 
disciples had a melancholy tale while Christ was dead and 
lying in the grave ; but that sad time is over : he is now 
risen, and will die no more. Nay, he hath proclaimed it 
for my comfort, saying, "Fear not; I am the first and the 
last. I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am 
alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and 
of death." 

"When my soul is cast down within me, let me remember 
God from the land of Jordan and the hill Mizar, that I 
may reason myself out of all my fears and discouragements ; 
for yet " the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the 
daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and 
my prayer to the God of my life." 

" Why then art thou cast down, 0 my soul ; and why 
art thou disquieted within me ? hope thou in God, for I 
shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
and my God." 

Now, when death is at hand, let not my Saviour be afar 
off. He who remembered the dying thief, and spoke com- 



THE SICK AN D DYING. 



213 



fortably to him, let him now remember me when he is seated 
in his kingdom, and say to my soul, " This day thou shalt 
be with me in paradise." When it is absent from the body, 
let it be present with the Lord. Let the angels now be 
ready to do their office, to carry my departing soul into 
Abraham's bosom. Let me now depart, that I may be with 
Christ ; yea, be for ever with the Lord, that I may see his 
face. Let me dwell there, where they have no night, need 
no candle, nor light of the sun for ever — where God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no 
more death, neither sorrow nor crying. 

Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. By the 
hands of Him who hath redeemed it, let it be presented to 
thee without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. 

ADDITIONAL MEDITATIONS PROPER FOE. ANY SICK PERSON IN THE 
VIEW OF DEATH. 

The Lord is pleased sometimes to cast men down on 
beds of sickness, and draw the curtain between the world 
and them, that they may take a view of their past life and 
future state. Now it is time for me to look into my soul, 
and examine my state. Oh, how many do miss salvation, 
when they think themselves sure of it. They mistake a 
form of godliness for the power of it, and thereby deceive 
themselves, thinking themselves something when they are 
nothing. 

Some go so far as to shed tears, as Esau did ; profess 
fair, yea, fight for the Lord, as Saul and Jehu did ; wish for 
the end of the righteous, as Balaam did ; desire God's people 
to pray for them, as Pharaoh and Simon Magus did ; walk 
softly and mourn for fear of judgments, as Ahab did ; joy in 
gospel ordinances and reform hi many things, as Herod did ; 
prophesy and speak well of Christ, as Caiaphas and Judas 
did ; be convinced and tremble at hearing a sermon, as Felix 
did ; yea, seemed to taste the good word of God and the 



214 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



powers of the world to come, as apostates have done ; and 
yet for all these attainments, remain strangers to the saving 
work of the Spirit on the heart. 

0 that the consideration of hypocrites' attainments might 
alarm me out of my security, and make me restless till I find 
the distinguishing marks of true grace and sincere faith in 
my soul. 0 that I could say, there is a principle in me that 
will not suffer me to build on any foundation in the world 
but Christ and his righteousness ; that makes me content 
with Christ, with all his offices, with all his precepts, and 
with his very cross for his sake. Doth the love of Christ 
keep me back from sin more than the law, or fear of hell ? 
Have I aimed at God's honor in all my actions, civil, nat- 
ural, and religious ? Am I humble and self-denying as to 
my own wisdom, will, credit, ease, and honor, and to all the 
enjoyments of the world ? Am I acquainted with the throne 
of grace, and desirous to keep up a constant correspondence 
with it ? 0 let me not rest till I perceive in my soul those 
things which accompany salvation. 

0 how comforting would it be to me now, if I could say 
with good Hezekiah in his sickness, " Remember now, 0 
Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a 
perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy 
sight." 0 that I could pray, and say, with Jesus my Sav- 
iour when in the view of death, "Father, I have glorified 
thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou 
gavest me to do : and now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with 
thine own self, with the glory which thou hast ordained for 
me before the world was." 

Alas, Lord, I must confess my iniquities have gone up 
above mine head ; my misspent time, my unfruitfulness under 
the means of grace and waterings of ordinances, may cause 
me to cry out, Woe is me, for the leanness of my soul and 
barrenness of my heart. I have been an empty vine, bring- 
ing forth fruit only to myself; I have hid my Lord's money, 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



215 



and therefore deserve the doom of the wicked and slothful 
servant. But my relief is in my Surety's righteousness. 
Blessed be the Lord, who hath sent his Son to bless those 
who by nature lie under the curse, and to intercede for those 
that cannot speak for themselves. 0 how suitable is he to 
my soul's case. I have indeed a multitude of sins, but he 
hath a multitude of tender mercies ; I have deep and hein- 
ous guilt, but he hath a deep fountain for washing it out ; I 
am sold under sin, but he hath a ransom to buy me back 
again ; my wound is great, but his balm is excellent. Surely 
it is my wisdom to go to Christ with all my grievances, and 
always to lie and cry at my Redeemer's door. 

0 that now, w T hen the sun of my life is setting, the 
blessed Sun of righteousness may rise and shine upon my 
soul. Goodness and mercy have followed me while I lived : 
0 that Christ and glory may meet me when I die. I must 
acknowledge thy goodness : were this the last hour I had to 
live, and this the last word I had to speak in the world, I 
might well say, Lord, thou hast been a merciful and gracious 
God to me ; my whole life hath been a continued course of 
mercy ; Lord, crown the end of it with mercy also. Surely 
the sea is not so full of water, nor the sun so full of light, as 
thou art full of grace and mercy, 0 let not my sins stop the 
current of thy tender mercies at this time. Lord, drown all 
my sins in the sea of Christ's blood, that my soul may not be 
sunk by them in the ocean of divine wrath. Lord Jesus, 
embrace my perishing soul in thy arms ; let thy cross be my 
security, and thy wounds my refuge. 

0 thou who hearest the young ravens when they cry, be 
not silent to me at this time, lest if thou be silent to me, I 
be like to them that go down to the pit. 

Lord, I am now called to the work I never did ; give me 
the strength I never had. Surely it is an important matter 
to die, and my eternal state dependeth upon dying aright. 
What I do amiss in my life one day, I may amend in the 



216 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



next ; but not so here — I can die "but once : if I mar this 
piece of work, I cannot come "back to mend it again ; if I for- 
get any thing necessary for my journey, I cannot return to 
get it. Oh, a wrong step in going out of this life is highly 
dangerous. In one respect it is like the sin against the Holy 
Ghost, and can never be forgiven ; for I cannot come back 
to mourn for it. Of all the business I ever undertook, I have 
most need to take care of my dying. 

Oh, is death coming to take down this earthly tabernacle, 
and put the one half of me in the dark grave, and the other 
half of me in heaven or in hell ; and shall I give sleep to my 
eyes and slumber to my eyelids, till I find myself so pre- 
pared that I dare look death in the face, and dare hazard my 
soul upon eternity ? 

0 to have right impressions of the certainty of death, 
and the uncertainty of life. What is my life but a vapor, a 
sand-glass of sixty or seventy years, which will soon run out? 
Eternity and a judgment-seat are now hard upon me. The 
blast of the last trumpet is at hand. There will shortly be 
a proclamation by one standing in the clouds, that time shall 
be no more. The world looks big in men's eyes in time of 
health ; but when the eye closes, when the breath departs, 
and the imprisoned soul is ready to leap out into eternity, 
can the world give any satisfaction ? No, no ; a lamp full 
of the oil of grace will be valued more than a house full of 
gold. The finest things on earth will then appear nothing 
but painted dust and gilded clay. How gladly would the 
greatest worldling then give all his gold and silver, riches 
and honors, for one sight of Christ's fair face, one smile of 
his countenance. 0 wherefore should men in health neglect 
the market of grace, and slight the pearl of great price ? 
Why should they spend their money for that which is not 
bread, and their labor for that which satisfieth not ? 

Lord, save me from the hypocrite's case at death, whose 
candle of profession and of hope burns and blazes fair all the 



THE SICK AND DYING-. 



217 



way with him, but goeth out in the dark trance of death ; 
and there he stumbles and falls, and shall rise no more. 0 
that my profession and hope may be of God's creating. If 
God light my candle, then shall my feet be enlightened 
through the dark valley, and neither death nor hell shall be 
able to put it out. 

Lord, subdue sin in me, and let it be continually dying 
now, that it may certainly be dead before me. God forbid 
that my sins should survive me. 

0, that when the stroke of death dissolves my body, my 
soul may escape as a bird out of the snare of the fowler, 
and may ascend to the heavenly regions to enjoy God him- 
self. 

0 let me look through the gates of mortality, and long 
for the jailer's coming to set me at liberty. Lord, help me 
to overcome the love of life and the fear of death. If my 
neighbor lend me any thing, I pay it again with thanks ; 
and shall I not restore my life to God with thanks, who hath 
been pleased to lend it to me so long ? Arise, and let me 
depart, for this is not my rest ; heaven is my home. Lord, 
bring me to it : the joys of it are too great to enter into me, 
0 make me fit to enter into them. 

While I lie on a sick-bed, Lord help^ me to patience in 
my sickness without murmuring. 

How willingly would the damned in hell endure my 
pains a thousand years, if they had any hopes of being saved 
at last. Blessed be God that my sickness is not hell, that 
my pains are not eternal. 

0 that I may look on my affliction as coming from the 
hand of him who is the Lord of health and of sickness, of 
life and of death ; who killeth and maketh alive, bringeth 
down to the grave, and raiseth up again. The sovereign 
and wise Lord hath determined the time when my affliction 
shall end, as well as the time when it began. Thirty-eight 
years were appointed the sick man at Bethesda pool ; eigh- 

Affl. Man'i Companion. 10 



218 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



teen years to the woman that Satan kept hound ; twelve 
years to the woman with the hloody-issue ; ten days' tribula- 
tion to those of Smyrna ; three days' plague to David. The 
number of the godly man's tears is registered in God's book; 
yea, the hairs of his head are numbered. 

"When David got his choice of his own chastisement, he 
chose rather to be corrected by the hand of God, than by 
any other means, saying, "Let me fall into the hands of the 
Lord, for his mercies are great." " I was dumb, and opened 
not my mouth, because thou didst it." Glory to God that 
I am fallen into his merciful hand. Hath God appointed 
that man's coming into the world shall be attended with 
pain and crying, and his going out of it with grief and 
trouble; and shall I quarrel at it? No ; I desire humbly to 
submit to the correction of mine iniquity, and to bear the 
indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. 
0 that the sickness of my body may be a means of health 
to my soul. May I be chastened of the Lord, so that I may 
not be condemned with the world. 

It is good for the believer that he is afflicted ; why ? it 
springs from divine love, and it works for his soul's good. 
Affliction is a seal of his adoption, and no sign of reproba- 
tion. The purest gold is the most tried, the sweetest grape 
is hardest pressed, and the truest Christian is heaviest crossed. 
But 0 how soon will the Christian forget all his groans when 
he comes to heaven. As soon as Stephen saw Christ, though * 
at a distance, he forgot all his wounds and bruises : he minded 
no more the terror of the stones about his ears, but sweetly 
yielded his soul into his Redeemer's hands. 

I read of many in the gospel, that by sickness and dis- 
eases were driven unto Christ, who, if they had enjoyed 
health and prosperity, would have neglected, like many oth- 
ers, to come to him. 0 blessed is that cross that draweth a 
sinner to Christ, to lay open his own misery and implore 
Christ's mercy. And blessed be that Christ who never re- 



THE SICK AND DYING. 



219 



fuseth the sinner that cometh to him, though driven by afflic- 
tion and misery. To whom shall such a distressed creature 
as I go, but to Him who is the only physician that can cure 
both my soul of sin and my body of sickness ? 

Lord, thou hast never denied thy mercy to any sinner 
that asked it with a penitent heart. There were many 
sorts of sick sinners, that came to thee in the days of thy 
flesh : the blind, the deaf, the lame, the lepers ; those that 
were sick of palsies, dropsies, fevers, fluxes, and were pos- 
sessed with devils ; and yet never one of them came crying 
for mercy, that went away without -his errand, were his sin 
ever so great or his disease ever so grievous. Nay, so mer- 
ciful is my Redeemer, that he offered and gave his mercy to 
many that never asked it, being moved with the bowels of 
his own compassion and the sight of their misery : so dealt 
he with the woman of Samaria, the widow of Nain, and the 
man that lay thirty-eight years at the pool of Bethesda. Oh, 
if he gave his mercy so willingly to them that did not ask it, 
and was found of them that sought him not, will he deny 
mercy to my soul that is crying for it ? 

There is but a step between me and death ; Lord, seal 
my pardon to me, before I go hence and be no more. 0 
draw nigh to me and save me ; for my soul is full of trouble, 
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. Thy loving- 
kindness is better than life : 0 make me sure of that, and I 
will willingly part with this mortal life. 

0 thou who wiliest not that any should perish, but that 
all should come to repentance, be pleased to make use of 
the chastisement of my body as a medicine to cure my soul, 
and bring me to a true and sincere repentance. One day is 
with thee as a thousand years : 0 work in me on this, which 
may be my last day, whatsoever thou seest wanting in me. 
Enable me to present unto thee the sacrifice of a broken and 
contrite heart, which thou hast promised not to despise. 
Give me a true and lively faith in the blessed Jesus, who is 



220 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



the propitiation for our sins. He was wounded for our 
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him ; 0 heal me by his 
stripes. Let the cry of his blood drown the clamor of my 
sins. I am indeed a child of wrath, but Christ is the Son of 
thy love ; 0 pity me for his sake, and let my soul find sanc- 
tuary in his wounds. 

0 Lord, the waters of affliction are come in even upon 
my soul. 0 let the Spirit of God move on these waters, 
that like the pool of Bethesda, they may cure whatever 
spiritual diseases thou .seest in me. 0 Lord, consider my 
affliction, accept my tears, assuage my pain, increase my 
patience, and finish my troubles. Correct me with the chas- 
tisement of a Father, and not with the wounds of an enemy ; 
and though thou take not off thy rod, Lord, take away thine 
anger. 

Lord, the prince of this world cometh : 0 let him have 
nothing in me ; but, as he accuseth, do thou absolve. I have 
nothing to say for myself, but be thou my advocate, Lord ; 
and do thou answer for me. I am clothed with filthy gar- 
ments, and Satan stands at my right hand to resist me ; 0 
Lord, rebuke him, and pluck me as a brand out of the fire. 
Cause mine iniquities to pass from me, and clothe me with 
the righteousness of thy dear Son. I know, 0 Lord, that no 
unclean thing can enter into thy kingdom, and thou seest 1 
am nothing but pollution, yea, my very righteousness is filthy 
rags : 0 wash thou me, and make me white in the blood of 
the Lamb, that I may be fit to stand before thy throne. 0 
take me from the tents of Kedar, to the mansions of light 
and purity. When my earthly house of this tabernacle is 
dissolved, 0 let me have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 0 bring my soul 
out of prison, that I may eternally give thanks unto thy 
name. Amen. 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 221 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DIRECTIONS TO THE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF THE SICK, 
"WHO ARE THEMSELVES IN HEALTH FOR THE TIME. 

When the Lord sends sickness and affliction to our neigh- 
bors, we ought not to be idle and unconcerned spectators of 
his dispensations, but we should hearken to the voice of 
God's rod upon others, and consider what it is that the Lord 
is calling for at our hands. These following directions may 
be useful to those that are in health. 

Direction 1. Be very thankful to God for the great mercy of 
health and strength, and improve it to his glory. 

Surely a healthful person hath great cause to be a thank- 
ful person. Health is a mercy that doth season and sweeten 
every other temporal mercy ; without it the greatest wealth 
and honors, nay, a king's crown, can give no satisfaction. 
It is far more eligible to be a healthy beggar than a sickly 
king. "What comfort could it afford us under tossing sick- 
ness and racking pains, to have the greatest heaps of money 
to look to, or thousands coming to pay us homage ? alas, for 
our unthankfulness to him who is the God of our health. 
How little do we prize his goodness in continuing with us 
such a long season of health and strength, together with the 
use of our reason and senses, when many others are deprived 
of them. Surely God were righteous, should he teach us to 
value the worth of these mercies by the want of them. 

Let us consider how many miserable persons there are 
in the world, and who it is that maketh us to differ from 
them ; how many diseased, distracted, deformed, lame, blind, 
deaf and dumb people there are ; and how easy it had been 
for God to have put us in their condition, and them in ours. 
The difference is not owing to any thing in us ; their sins 
are not greater than ours. Had we a due sense of our sins 



222 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



and ill-deservings, we should acknowledge ourselves unwor- 
thy of the least of all God's mercies ; we should reckon 
every common mercy a special blessing and unmerited favor 
to us. Again, let us take a view of the fainting sickness, 
racking pains, and restless nights of others. Let us look 
upon pur sick friends sweating and burning under fevers ; 
let us hear them groaning and moaning under strong pain. 
" Their soul abhors all manner of meat, and they draw near 
unto the gates of death." Sometimes we see them panting 
and fainting, and not able to speak a word to us. And what 
is the language of all this to us ? Is it not, that we should 
thankfully adore our gracious God, and bless and magnify 
him for his distinguished goodness to us ? 0 how much are 
we indebted to the Lord, that it is not so with us as with 
others. "Wearisome nights are appointed to them, and their 
bones are full of tossing ; all the comforts of this life are 
tasteless to them ; their friends are weeping about them, but 
cannot help them. " It is far otherwise with me," may you 
say, "my mercies and relations bring comfort to me; I relish 
my food, my bed gives me ease, my sleep is refreshing ; I 
have freedom to read and to pray, to meditate and attend 
the public ordinances. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul ; and all 
that is within me, bless his holy name. Forget not this 
benefit of health, that is the chief of all my outward bless- 
ings; some would part with all their worldly wealth, to 
have so much bodily health as I have. Long have I under- 
valued and abused this choice mercy of health ; 0 that I 
could mourn for my neglect, and resolve in God's strength 
to improve my remaining health, for the praise and service 
of that merciful God who is the author and preserver of it. 
Let me spend and be spent for God, that gives me all my 
health and strength for his glory. Let me abhor the ingrati- 
tude of those who employ the health which God giveth, in 
the service of his enemies, and make a sacrifice of it to the 
devil, the world, and the flesh. 0 what prodigious folly are 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 223 



those guilty of, who, for satisfying their sensual appetite, 
deprive themselves of health, which is in itself a thousand 
times of more value than all their brutish pleasure. God 
help me to prize this mercy, that can never be prized 
enough." 

Direction 2. Make conscience of visiting your sick friends and 
neighbors, believing it your duty and interest so to do. 

Visiting of the sick is not only the duty of the ministers 
of Christ, but likewise of all the members of Christ ; for we 
are all enjoined to remember them that are in adversity, and 
to sympathize with the afflicted, as being ourselves also in 
the body. "To him that is afflicted, pity should be shown 
by his friends," saith Job; and our Lord gives it as a char- 
acter of those whom he will own and acquit at the great 
day, " I was sick, and ye visited me." Matt. 25 : 36. This 
is the way to be like him who is the Father of mercies, and 
whose soul was grieved for the miseries of Israel. Judg. 
10 : 16. "We read how tenderly David sympathized with 
his enemies when they were sick. Psa. 35 : 13, 14. And 
much more ought we to visit and sympathize with our sick 
friends. To visit the prosperous and healthy is an act of 
courtesy and civility ; but to visit the afflicted and sickly is 
an act of charity and Christianity. 

And as it is your duty, so it is your interest and advan- 
tage to visit the sick. The wise man tells you, " It is better 
to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feast- 
ing." Eccl. 7 : 2. King Joash went to see Elisha in his 
sickness, and wept over him ; and he lost nothing by so 
doing, 2 Kings, 13 : 14, for he obtained thereby three famous 
victories over the Syrians. Though it be not warrantable 
to inquire of the dead, Deut. 18 : 11, yet we may learn many 
wholesome lessons from the dying, even though they be 
speechless. For instance, we may hereby be instructed how 
to prize health, learn our own frailty, and provide for the 
time of sickness. When we behold their strength languish- 



224 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



ing, their tongues faltering, their eyes failing, their counte- 
nances pale, we should think with ourselves, " Trrs will he 
my case ere long ; the next arrow that death shoots may he 
levelled at me ; how much is it my concern to prepare for 
it!" Also we may think what a hitter thing sin is, that is 
the cause of all these pains and distress, and how mad they 
are who love sin and take pleasure in it. We may see 
likewise the great folly of courting and trusting the world, 
which leaves the sick and dying man in the greatest 
extremity. And we may observe how happy the man is 
that hath an interest in Christ, the peace of a good con- 
science, and a well-grounded hope of heaven, to yield him 
support and confidence under his strugglings with sickness 
and death. When we hear the dying man's complaints of 
his sins, and his lamenting his neglect of duty, and mis- 
spending of precious time, we may learn repentance and 
reformation. When we ohserve believers' professions of 
love to Christ, and their hope in him to the last, it doth 
contribute to the quickening and strengthening of our faith. 
A right sight of dying persons is a good means to increase 
the spirit of grace and supplication in us. We may fitly 
allude here to the answer which Elijah gave to Elisha 
when he sought a double portion of his spirit: "If thou 
seest me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto 
thee." 2 Kings, 2:10. A double portion of the Spirit shall 
be the allowance of those who make conscience of this duty. 

Direction 3. Let the friends of the sick and those who visit 
them, deal faithfully with them about their souls. 

Consider, this may be the last opportunity you may have 
of doing any thing for your friend's soul. ■ If he die, he is 
fixed hi his everlasting state, so that all advices and coun- 
sels then will be fruitless. It is now, or never, that you 
must exert yourself for your friend's advantage ; there is no 
wisdom in the grave to which he is going. God's loving- 
kindness cannot be declared in the grave, nor his faithful- 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AID NEIGHBORS. 225 



ness in destruction. Psa. 88 : 11. Now is the proper time 
for doing good to your neighbor's soul. When affliction 
opens the ear to discipline, he careful to drop in wholesome 
instructions into it ; and when the heart is made tender by 
sickness, it is a fit season for good counsels to make im- 
pressions on it. Let the opportunity be improved with 
faithfulness and prudence ; and in order to this, observe the 
following advices : 

1. Labor to know the sick man's spiritual condition, that 
your application may be suitable for it. The knowledge of 
the disease is previously requisite unto the cure : as the 
mistake of a physician about a man's disease may be as 
dangerous as the disease itself, so here it is highly dangerous 
to mistake the case of the sick man's soul ; for then lenitives 
may be applied when corrosives are needful — promises may 
be administered when threatenings are more proper. * 

2. Beware of flattering the sick with vain hopes of life 
when he is more likely to die, lest he be tempted to delay 
or slacken his preparation for another world. It is fit that 
plainness be used with respect to his danger, that he may 
be quickened to his work. 

3. The sick is to be admonished and told that sickness 
comes not by chance, nor by second causes merely, but by 
the wise direction and special providence of God"; that some- 
times God smites out of displeasure for sin and for the sin- 
ner's correction and amendment, and sometimes for the trial 
and exercise of his people's graces ; that the sharpest 
afflictions shall work for good to them that love God, and 
are rightly affected and improved under God's hand ; that 
it is a great mercy to a sinner, when God by his rod gives 
him warning and space to repent and flee to the blood of 
sprinkling, and to cry to God for pardon, and doth not 
snatch him out. of the world by sudden death ; upon which 
account the voice of the rod should be carefully hearkened 
to and thankfully obeyed. 

10* 



226 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



4. If the sick person be ignorant, he is to be catechized 
and instructed in the principles of religion, especially con- 
cerning his faith and repentance, and his accepting of the 
covenant of grace and the method of pardon and salvation 
through the righteousness of Christ apprehended by faith. 
And it may be proper to obtain his assent to some of the 
fundamental truths of Christianity, or his answer to such 
questions as these : 

Do you believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
one God in three persons, the Maker and Governor of the 
world ? 

Do you believe that Jesus Christ, who assumed our na- 
ture, obeyed the law, died on the cross, rose from the dead, 
and ascended to heaven, is the eternal Son of God, and the 
only Saviour of sinners ? 

Are you sensible that you are a lost sinner by Adam's 
fall, and besides that, guilty of innumerable actual sins ; 'and 
that you have broken- God's holy commandments in thoughts, 
words, and deeds, and for so doing deserve God's wrath both 
in this life and that which is to come ? 

Are you truly grieved and sorry for breaking God's law, 
neglecting his worship, misspending your time, and pursuing 
the vanities of the world ? And would you live otherwise, 
if you were "to begin your life again ? 

How do you think to get your guilt removed, your sins 
pardoned, and your peace made with God ? Are you desir- 
ous from your heart to be reconciled to God through Jesus 
Christ the blessed peacemaker? 

Do you heartily approve of the gospel method of recon- 
ciliation, by the righteousness and sacrifice offered up by the 
Lord Jesus Christ as your Surety, in your name and stead ? 
And is your soul desirous to choose and accept of Christ for 
your Mediator and Saviour, in all his offices of Prophet, 
Priest, and King ? 

Do you renounce all confidence in any other, all depend- 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHDOPlS. 227 



ence on your own duties and righteousness, and put your 
whole trust and confidence in Christ and the merits of his 
blood, saying, " Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there 
is none on earth that I desire besides thee ?" Do you believe 
that there is no salvation in any other ; and that there is no 
name under heaven whereby you can be saved, but Jesus 
Christ only ? 

Do you desire to be wholly renewed and sanctified by 
virtue of Christ's blood, and to show forth the reality of your 
faith by good works and a holy life, for the time you have 
to live in the world ? And, as evidence thereof, are you 
willing to restore what you have taken wrongfully from any, 
and to cast out all malice or hatred you have borne to any, 
and ask forgiveness of any you have injured ? 

Do you believe that Christ is coming at the last day to 
judge all the world, both the quick and the dead, whom he 
shall then raise from the grave, and that your dead body 
ishall rise with the rest ? 

Do you believe the immortality of the soul, and its living 
in a separate state after death, and that the souls of believers 
do thence pass into glory, where they shall be ever with the 
Lord ? 

5 . In dealing with the sick, you are to separate between 
the precious and the vile, and make a difference between the 
converted and the unconverted. And seeing different appli- 
cations are requisite, you are, according to your knowledge, 
to study to suit your counsels, admonitions, and prayers to 
their condition ; not using the same words to the ungodly as 
to the godly, lest you flatter them with ill-grounded hopes 
that their state is safe, while they are strangers to a work of 
regeneration. The great truth is to be declared to all, that 
" Unless a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God." 0 it is dangerous to speak peace when God speaks 
war. 

6. If the sick person seem to be secure, or have not a 



228 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



due sense of his sins, endeavors must be used to convince 
him of the guilt, pollution, and danger of them, in order to 
his humiliation. Presumptuous sinners are not to be flat- 
tered, lest we betray their souls into eternal ruin, and so 
their blood be required at our hand. No fond love, no slavish 
fear, must keep us from telling them the hazard of their 
present state. Their secure conscience must be awakened 
to see the demerit of sin, and the terribleness of the justice 
of a sin-avenging God, before whom no Christless impenitent 
sinner can stand : this is necessary in order to a sinner's dis- 
covering his lost case in himself, and his fleeing to Christ for 
refuge. It is God's method first to cast down the soul, before 
he lift it up — to plow the heart by conviction, before he cast 
in the seed of consolation. 

7. If the sick person had studied to walk uprightly, but 
is at present discouraged on account of the sharpness of the 
rod, Satan's temptations, the guilt of sin, fear of death, or 
the like, then suitable counsels, resolutions, and comforts 
are to be offered, in order to his confirmation and support. 
Particularly, he may be told that sharp rods are nowise incon- 
sistent with divine love ; nay, frequently they are a sign of 
it : for as standing waters turn corrupt because they have 
no current, so with those who are not poured from vessel to 
vessel, their taste remains and their scent is not changed; 
therefore God, in order to take away the scent of corrupt 
nature from us, is pleased to change us from state to state 
by crosses and sickness, in order to our salvation. As Noah's 
ark, the higher it was tossed with the flood, mounted the 
nearer towards heaven ; so the sanctified soul, the more it is 
exercised with affliction, is lifted the nearer towards God. 
Again, it is proper to set before him the freeness and fulness 
of God's grace, the sufficiency of righteousness in Christ, 
and his rich and gracious offers in the gospel, by which we 
are assured that all who repent and believe with all their 
heart in God's mercy through Christ, renouncing their own 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 



229 



righteousness, shall not perish in their sins, but have life and 
salvation in him ; and that believers in Christ are assured of 
victory over Satan, death, and all their enemies, because 
Christ their head hath by his cross conquered the devil, un- 
stinged death, triumphed over the grave, and obtained vic- 
tory for all his members. So that neither life nor death, 
principalities nor powers, shall be able to separate them from 
God's love in Christ. 

8. If a sick man be so tempted and troubled in con- 
science that he is in hazard of despairing of God's mercy, 
it is necessary to inform him of the greatness and infinite- 
ness of God's mercy — that the most notorious sinners have 
been pardoned and saved by it, and that it is offered in the 
gospel to the vilest of sinners. Though God foresaw all the 
sins which the world would commit, yet these did not hinder 
him from loving the world so that he gave his only begotten 
Son to death, to save as many as would believe and repent ; 
so that the sins of one man can never hinder God from loving 
his soul and forgiving his sins, when he sincerely desires to 
repent and believe. The cry of the most grievous sins that 
are recorded, such as those of Sodom, could never reach 
higher than unto heaven. Gen. 19:13. But David assures 
us that his mercy is great, and reacheth higher than the 
heavens, Psalm 108 : 4, so that it overtoppeth the greatest oi 
all our sins. . If the mercy of God be greater than all his 
works, it must surely be greater than all our sins. Again, 
lay before him the infinite virtue of Christ's blood. Acts 
20 : 28. Are there any sins so great, or guilt so heinous, 
but the blood of Christ can wash them away? This was 
godly Cranmer's support the day he suffered martyrdom, 
when his sin of renouncing the Protestant doctrine stared 
him in the face: "Surely," said he, "God was made flesh, 
and shed his blood, not for lesser sins only, but for greater 
sins also." He was sadly discouraged, and wept abundantly, 
till he looked to this meritorious blood; and then he took 



230 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



heart and died with courage. 0 this price was so great 
that it could have merited pardon for the sins of all the 
devils in hell, as well as of all the men on earth, though 
every one of them had been red as crimson. Yea, the least 
drop of this blood is of more merit to procure the mercy of 
God for our salvation, than all our sins can be of force to 
provoke the wrath of God for our damnation. 

Moreover, let him be put in mind of the willingness and 
readiness of our Redeemer to receive all sinners that came 
to him in the days of his flesh, though driven to him by 
sickness and affliction ; so that he never sent any of them 
away without their errand that came crying for mercy. 
Nay, he many times sought out objects for his mercy that 
were not thinking of coming to him, as we showed before. 
Observe the gentleness of our Lord's carriage to Judas him- 
self, in calling him friend, after his most treacherous deal- 
ing : "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Matt 26 : 50. 
Had the wretched Judas laid hold of the word friend out of 
the mouth of Christ, as Benhadad did of the word brother 
from the mouth of Ahab, doubtless Judas would have found 
the God of Israel more merciful than Benhadad found the 
king of Israel. 1 Kings, 20 : 33. 

Let him also consider, that to despair of God's mercy 
casts the greatest dishonor upon the divine majesty, and is 
a sin more heinous than all the sins which he before com- 
mitted ; because it doth charge the great God as guilty of 
perjury, who hath solemnly sworn that he desires not the 
death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and live. 
Ezek. 33 : 11. God was more displeased with Cain for 
despairing of his mercy, than for murdering his brother, and 
with Judas for hanging himself, than for betraying his Mas- 
ter. Why ? because that by their despair they would make 
the sins of mortal men greater than the infinite mercy of 
the eternal God. 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 231 



Direction 4. Be earnest in prayer to God for your friends when 
sick or dying; pray with them and for them. 

Frequently sick persons are so disquieted wkh pain and 
trouble that they are little able to pray for themselves, and 
therefore they have the more need of the prayers of others. 
t)avid fasted and prayed for his enemies when they were 
sick, Psa. 19 : 13 ; much more ought we to pray for our 
friends in that case. Never did they need our prayers so 
much as when they are called to enter upon an unchange- 
able condition — to go to their long home, even that place 
wherein they must abide for ever. Now they are in the 
land of prayer ; and it is now or never that you must pray 
and beg mercy for them. When their life is gone, they go 
from the land of prayer, and are fixed in that place whence 
they shall never remove ; then all prayers and cries for them 
will be in vain. If your friend be a stranger to Christ, he 
is on the brink of hell, and knows it not ; and will you not 
cry to God to open his eyes, and save him from falling into 
that devouring pit, out of which there is no redemption ? 
You would be willing to sit up a whole night for the relief 
of his body ; and will you not spend a part of a night for 
the good of his soul, that is a thousand times more valuable ? 
Now the question is, whether this precious soul shall be 
Christ's or the devil's for ever. And when will you wrestle 
for your friend, if you do it not now ? If the sick person 
be a child of God, you may pray with, more comfort and 
expectation to be heard. You may, in that case, send the 
same message by prayer to Christ that the sister of sick 
Lazarus did : " Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." 
John 11:3. Lord, pity him, comfort him, abate his dis- 
temper, and relieve him from it, if it be thy will ; if not, 
grant him thy gracious presence and safe conduct through 
the Jordan of death, and a happy landing in the Canaan of 
glory. 

We are told that the prayer of the righteous in such 



232 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



cases doth avail much. James 5:16. And this ought to 
encourage us to pray one for another. Whatever be the 
sick person's condition, such confessions and petitions as the 
following may be made use of in prayer for him. 

PETITIONS FOR THE SICK. 

Lord, thou hast breathed into man the breath of life , 
and when thou takest away that breath, he dies, and returns 
again to his dust. May we be duly sensible of our depend- 
ence on thee for all that we enjoy. We acknowledge that 
our great abuse of the many days of health and welfare thou 
affordest us doth justly deserve the visitation of sickness and 
diseases. Alas for us, we lie under a burden of sin, both 
original and actual ; we are all the children of wrath by 
nature, and under the curse of a broken law ; and all other 
miseries, temporal and spiritual, distempers, pains, death, 
and hell itself, are the issues thereof. Be merciful to the 
sick person under thy hand ; make known to him his sins, 
and the cause why thou contendest with him. Make him 
see that he is lost in himself, and wholly unable to satisfy 
the demands of offended justice ; and do thou reveal Christ 
to his soul for righteousness and life. Oh give him thy Holy 
Spirit to create and strengthen faith, that he may lay hold 
on Christ as offered in the gospel. Work in him the grace 
of true repentance. Enable him to search his heart and 
try his ways, so that he may discover every accursed thing, 
every Achan in the camp, that hath provoked the Lord 
against him. When thou puttest him in the furnace, be 
pleased to stand by it, and oversee the metal while it is 
melting in it. Try him as silver is tried, and bring him out 
purified* and let him lose nothing in the furnace but his 
dross. Remove his sins from thy presence as far as east is 
from west, that they may never trouble his conscience nor 
rise in judgment against his soul. However bitter the cup 
may be, let it be medicinal to cure all the diseases of his 



DUTIES TO FRIENDS AND NE IG-HB 0H3. 23? 



soul. Oh that these afflictions, which are "but for a moment, 
may work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory, through Jesus Christ the purchaser. 

Look down from heaven, the habitation of thy holiness ; 
behold his affliction and his pain, and forgive all his sin. 
Show such pity to him as a father doth to his child, and lay 
no more upon him than he is able to bear. Lord, give pa- 
tience and strength equal to the burden of trouble thou hast 
laid on him. In time of his weakness, uphold him by thy 
strength. Relieve his wants out of thy infinite fulness. 
Lord, thou knowest his frame, and rememberest that he is 
dust ; save him from extremity of trouble ; either abate his 
pain, or increase his patience to endure what thou measurest 
out to him. Give him the evidences of all the graces of thy 
Spirit. Arm and defend him against all the suggestions 
and temptations of Satan. Take his heart wholly off the 
world, and set his affections on things above. Lord, make 
use of this chastisement of his body as a medicine to cure 
his soul, by drawing his soul that is sick of sin to thyself. 
Oh enable him, in a penitent, believing manner, to come by 
repentance to Christ his soul-physician, to get it healed of 
its maladies. Sanctify his sickness, and let the fruit of it 
be to purge away his sin. 

If thou, 0 Lord-, shalt be pleased to add to his days, bless 
all means of his recovery. Remove the disease ; renew his 
strength both outward and inward : heal his soul as well 
as his body, and enable him to walk tenderly before thee, 
and carefully to remember and perform such vows and 
promises of obedience as men are wont to make in time of 
sickness. 

If thou hast determined to finish his days by the present 
visitation, let him find such evidence of the pardon of his 
sins, of his interest in Christ and eternal life, as may cause 
his inward man to be renewed while his outward man de- 
cayeth ; that he may meet death without fear, cast himself 



234 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



wholly on Christ without doubting, and desire to be dis 
solved, that he may be for ever with Jesus Christ. Lord, 
make his last works better than his first, and the day of his 
death better than the day of his birth. Make his last words 
his best words, his last thoughts his best thoughts, his last 
hour his best hour. Oh let him die the death of the right- 
eous, and let his last end be like his. Let the eyes of his 
soul be opened to see his sins and his Saviour, before the 
eyes of his body be shut by death. Take away the sting of 
death, the guilt of sin, that he may walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, and fear no evil. Open thou his 
lips, that his mouth may show forth thy praise before he go 
to the place of silence. And when his strength doth fail, 
and his tongue is not able to utter words, let the blood of 
Christ speak for him in heaven ; and let thy Holy Spirit 
within him make requests for him with sighs and groans 
that cannot be uttered. When the sight of his eyes doth 
fail him, let the eyes of his faith be strengthened, that his 
soul may behold Jesus Christ in heaven ready to receive 
him. Lord, stand by him in his last conflict with his ene- 
mies Satan and death, that he may overcome both, and be 
more than a conqueror through Christ that hath loved him. 
Into thy hands we commend his spirit. 

Lord, teach us all to see how frail and uncertain our con- 
dition is, and so to number our days that we may seriously 
apply our hearts to heavenly wisdom, through Jesus Christ. 
Amen. 

Direction 5. Be careful to furnish your friends with suitable 
company and spiritual converse, when they are sick or 
dying. 

As worldly company and converse are great hinderances, 
so spiritual company and converse are special helps to the 
Bick and dying. Now, that the friends of the sick may 
prevent the one and provide for the other, let the following 
advices be remembered : 



DUTIES TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 235 



1. Remind your friends to make their wills in season, 
and dispatch the settlement of their worldly affairs, that so 
they may not be disturbed at the last, nor anywise diverted 
from their main work by thoughts or conversation about the 
world. A mind abstracted from the world is a most suitable 
disposition for a dying man. You cannot carry the things 
of this world with you when you go hence, and it is not fit 
that you should carry the thoughts of them. 

2. Keep carnal company from them as much as possible, 
and all those that would divert them by idle or worldly dis- 
course. It is both impertinent and cruel to throw such 
impediments in the way of those that are going speedily to 
their endless state. 

3. Do what you can to get faithful ministers and godly 
Christians to be much about them ; persons able to instruct 
and counsel them about their soul's matters, and also to 
pray with them and for them. 

4. Be often reminding your sick friends of their chief 
work, and the things which belong to their peace. "What- 
ever be their state, whether gracious or graceless, it is 
proper to be often reminding them of the vanity and 
emptiness of the world, that can neither give ease to the 
body nor comfort to the soul, when either of them is in 
trouble ; of the sinfulness of sin, which is the spring of all 
diseases and miseries whatever ; of the preciousness and 
usefulness of Christ to a sinner in all cases, and especially 
at a dying hour ; of the inexpressible felicity of believers in 
Christ after death, and similar truths. 

5. If you think yourself not able to instruct or advise 
your sick friends as they need, then read some good book to 
them, that may be suitable to the condition of their souls , 
and if you have not a fitter at hand, read some chapters 
and directions of this book to them, as you may see most 
proper for them. But above all books, read to the sick the 
holy Scriptures, and some particular chapters and psalms 



236 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



there, such as the last three chapters of Genesis, the last 
chapter of Deuteronomy, the 17th chapter of the first book 
of Kings, the 2d chapter of the second book of Kings, the 
14th and 19th chapters of Job, the Psalms of David, and 
particularly the 6th, the 23d, 25th, 30th, 38th, 41st, 42d, 
49th, 51st, 71st, 73d, 77th, 88th, 89th, 90th, 103d, 116th, 
118th, 130th, 142d, and 143d Psalms; the 12th chapter 
of Ecclesiastes ; the 38th, 53d, 54th, and 55th chapters of. 
Isaiah ; the last three chapters of Luke ; the 14th to 17th 
and 20th chapters of John ; the 8th chapter of Romans ; the 
15th chapter of first Corinthians; the 5th of second Corin 
thians; the 4th of first Thessalonians ; the 11th and 12th of 
Hebrews ; the last three chapters of Revelation, and the like. 

Direction 6. Be likewise suitably concerned for the bodies of 
your friends, when they are sick. 
If you would evidence a suitable concern for them, then 
you must deal tenderly and compassionately with them in 
their sickness, bear with their impatience and fretting, weary 
not of them, nor grudge at the trouble they put you to ; for 
shortly you yourselves may be put in the like case, when 
you shall be as great a trouble to others as your friends are 
now to you. 

It is also necessary to employ physicians, and use the 
best means for the recovery of your friend's health. The 
means indeed must not be trusted to instead of God, but 
used in subserviency to him, who hath appointed them, and 
who only can give success to them. We must beware oi 
Asa's sin, that sought to the physicians and not to the Lord. 
Let us neither take food nor medicine without prayer to God 
for his blessing thereon. 

Direction 7. When the sickness of your relations or neighbors 
doth issue in death, study a Christian and suitable behavior 
under such a dispensation. 

When a parent loseth a promising child, or a child 
loseth a loving parent, or when death deprives us of any 



DUTIES TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 237 



near relation, it is a speaking and trying providence ; and 
we have much need of grace and counsel from God to con- 
duct aright under it. Let us observe these advices : 

1 It is necessary in such a case that we have a tender 
sense and feeling of God's afflicting hand. There are two 
extremes which we must equally avoid, namely, to make 
light of the death of relations, and to be excessively grieved 
on that account. God will have us neither to despise his rod 
nor to faint under it. Heb. 12:5. God is displeased with 
those who are stupid and insensible under such afflictions. 
Hence he complains of such : " I have smitten them, but they 
have not grieved." Jer. 5 :3. God will have us feel his 
hand, inquire into the meaning of the rod, and search for those 
sins that have provoked God to smite us. It is a sign of a 
selfish and unchristian spirit to be unconcerned for the death 
of friends, and much more is it so in those children who 
have a secret satisfaction in the death of parents, because of 
the worldly riches or liberty which they get thereby. God 
often follows this wicked temper with his heavy judgments 
even in this life. 

2. Consider that God is calling you by the death, of 
others, to keep up lively and lasting impressions of death and 
eternity upon your own spirits. God knoweth how advan- 
tageous it would be for men so to do, and therefore he sets 
frequent spectacles of mortality before their eyes for this end. 
But such is the corruption and earthliness of our minds, that 
we soon forget the thoughts of death. When we see our 
friends in the pangs of death, or laid in the grave, it strikes 
us with some fear and concern, to think that this will one 
day be our own case; but no sooner is the dead interred, 
and the grave filled up again, than all these serious thoughts 
begin to vanish, and men return to their sins and pleasures 
as before. Ah, what folly is this ! Should not men always 
keep alive the serious thoughts of death and a future state ? 
Are we not always alike mortal ? Are we not as liable to 



238 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



death's arrest at other times, as when examples are before 
our eyes ? 

3. When God takes away your children or relations, let 
it draw your hearts and affections more towards God and 
things above. As when a shepherd taketh up in his arms 
a lamb of the flock, the ewe followeth him of her own 
accord and will not leave him ; so when the great Shepherd 
of the sheep taketh a child or friend from you, it should 
cause you to follow after him, and desire to be with him. 
But one may say, "That is not the case with me; I fear 
the wolf hath got the straying sheep, and devoured it." 
Then even that suspicion should make you run to the good 
Shepherd, abide with him, and keep close by the footsteps of 
the flock, and beware of straying in the paths wherein de- 
stroyers go. When God taketh from you relations whom 
you dearly loved, he calls you to take your love off the 
fading creature, and set it on the eternal Creator; when the 
weak branch is lopped off, then clasp to the body of the tree, 
which will not fail you. 

4. In such trials, study a humble and patient submis- 
sion to the will of God, who, in his sovereign wisdom and 
pleasure, hath taken your child or friend from you. Re- 
member who hath done it, even He who gave all men 
their lives, and hath the absolute power and right to dis- 
pose of men's lives as he thinks best. If your fellow-crea- 
ture do any thing that displeaseth you, you may both ask 
who did it, and why he did so ? But when God doth any 
thing to you, you must remember he is the Potter and you 
are the clay, and that he may make or mar his clay vessels, 
yea, break them in pieces at his pleasure ; and there is 
n.one can stay his hand, or say to him, What doest thou ? 
"Be still, and know that I am God." Psa. 46 : 10. The 
master of a family gathers at his pleasure the flowers and 
fruits of his garden : sometimes he cuts off the buds, some- 
times he suffers them to blossom ; sometimes he gathers the 



DUTIES TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 



239 



green fruit, sometimes he stays till they are ripe ; and every 
body thinks he may do with his own what he pleaseth ; and 
shall not the Almighty God have liberty much more to dis- 
pose of all that grows in his own territories at his pleasure 9 
The master of the family hath not created the trees and 
plants of his garden, but God hath made and fashioned all 
the children of men with his almighty hand. 

It is the sense of this sovereign right and dominion 01 
God over his creatures, that hath made his people to be 
silent under the greatest losses. Hence when Aaron lost 
his two sons by a sudden and extraordinary stroke, it is said 
of him, "And Aaron held his peace." Lev. 10:3. He 
opened not his mouth, because it was a sovereign God that 
did it. So holy Job, when he lost all his children by one 
blow, patiently submits to this absolute Lord: "The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord." Job 1:21. Job knew that God's relation 
to them was far nearer than his, and his right to dispose of 
them was indisputable. It was a holy and excellent speech 
of that honorable person, lord Duplessis, at the death of his 
only son : "I could not have borne this from man, but I can 
from God." 

5. Guard against immoderate grief and excessive sorrow 
for the death of children or near relations ; for this is sinful 
and offensive to God. Grief is sinful and immoderate when 
it makes you grudge at God's dispensation, murmur at his 
will, turn unthankful to him for the mercies you enjoy, over- 
look past favors, or lament a temporal more than a spiritual 
loss. Alas, there are many who can bewail a dead friend 
far more than a dead heart, and the loss of a child more than 
the loss of God's countenance. 

Now, for preventing this excessive sorrow, consider these 
things : 

(1.) If you be Christless and impenitent, you have reason 
to bless God that the stroke was not at your own life, for 



240 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



then you had been eternally miserable, and without hope. 
What is the temporal loss of a child to the eternal loss of 
thine own soul? 0 it is far better to be childless and 
friendless on earth, than to be hopeless and remediless in 
hell 

(2.) Consider how little ground you have to complain of 
any loss or stroke you meet with on earth. If you consider 
God's sovereignty and poiver over you, you have cause to be 
thankful that he hath not annihilated you and your relations 
both long ere now, seeing he hath as full a dominion to re- 
duce you to nothing, as to bring you from nothing. Though 
God should dash us against the walls, as a potter doth hi? 
vessel, no man could have reason to say, What dost thou ; or 
why dost thou use me so? " 0 house of Israel, cannot I do 
with you as this potter? saith the Lord." Jer. 18 : 6. Nay, 
he hath a greater right to deal so with us, than a potter with 
his vessel, for God hath contributed all to his creature that 
it hath ; but the potter never made the clay which is the 
substance of the vessel, nor the water that is needful to 
make it tractable. All that the potter doth, is onry to mould 
the clay into such. a shape; besides, the potter's body is no 
better than the clay he makes his vessel of; nay, perhaps 
that very clay might once have been some part of the body 
of a man as good as the potter himself. Now, shall the 
potter have such absolute power over that which is so near 
alike to him, and shall not God have it over that which is 
infinitely distant from him? That word, Dan. 4:34, 35, 
" The Most High doth according to his will," is enough to 
silence the murmurings of all men under strokes and losses. 

If you view the hand of God as most^s^ and righteous 
in what you have met with, you have no good ground to 
complain. Have you not procured all this to yourself? Is 
not God most just in all that hath come upon you ? Nay, if 
you consider your sins, and God's absolute dominion over 
you, you must own he might have dealt with you in a se- 



DUTIES OF FH1ENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 241 



verer way than lie hath done : instead of one affliction, you 
might have had a thousand. 

Look to the mercy that is mixed with the rod. It is a 
wonder that this great Sovereign, who is so provoked by us, 
should allow us any mercy at all ; and yet we receive innu- 
merable benefits from him. "Whatever be our afflictions, 
surely they are far less than our iniquities deserve. Hath 
he cast your child into the grave? he might justly have 
thrown your soul into hell. It is of the Lord's mercies you 
are not consumed. 'Why should a living man complain ? a 
man out of a grave, and out of hell too, hath surely no 
reason. 

If you compare your affliction with the trials of others 
of God's people, yea, even of those saints who have been 
most eminent, you have no reason to grudge at your loss. 
You have one child dead, but Aaron, who is called the saint 
of the Lord, Psalm 106 : 16, lost two at a stroke; nay, Job, 
whom God commends above all the saints in his day, had 
all his children slain by one blow ; and both these eminent 
saints had these losses by an immediate and extraordinary 
stroke from God. Some godly parents have seen their chil- 
dren live to prove scandals to religion, and a grief of mind 
to themselves, and would have thought it a mercy if God 
had taken them away when young. Say not then that there 
is no sorrow like your sorrow ; for the cup which many others 
have drunk, hath had more bitter ingredients in it than yours. 

(3.) Consider that excessive grief cannot better your 
case ; it may well make it worse. If you struggle and con- 
tend under God's hand, you act a foolish part — like a bullock 
unaccustomed to the yoke, that by his struggling galls his 
neck, and makes the yoke the more uneasy ; or like a bird 
fluttering in a net, that instead of freeing, doth the more 
entangle itself. Thus by immoderate sorrow and fretting 
under the stroke, you sin the more against God, and make 
your burden the more heavy. 

Affl. Man's Comp. 1 1 



242 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



(4.) Remember the transactions of your soul with God 
in the day you entered into covenant with him. When you 
saw yourself on the brink of hell, and a burden of sin press- 
ing you down, and no hope for you but in Christ, then your 
cry was, "None but Christ : take children, relations, riches, 
and all things else from me. and give me Christ. I give up 
myself, and all I have, to be disposed of at thy pleasure ; thy 
will, Lord, shall be my will." Now, God is taking you at 
your word, and trying your sincerity in what you said and 
professed to him so solemnly. He hath' disposed of thy dear 
relation as pleased him : 0, believer, dost thou rue the bar- 
gain ; wouldst thou take thy word again ? "Where is thy cov- 
enanted submission to the will of God, and thy promised 
contentment with all his disposals? 

(I ) Dost thou not believe that a covenanted God is 
better to thee than all the friends in the world ? Cannot God 
Boon make up the greatest loss to thee, if thou turn to him 
by prayer, and pour out thy heart and sorrows in his besom ? 
A smile of God's face in prayer can soon sweeten thy bitter 
cup, and make thee forget all thy sorrows: " In the multi- 
tude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my 
soul." Psalm 94 : 19. The author of the Fulfilling of the 
Scriptures tells us of one Patrick Macilwrae, an eminent 
saint in the west of Scotland, who having lost his dear and 
only son, got to his closet, and there poured out his soul to 
the Lord. When he at length came out to his friends, who 
were waiting to comfort him and fearing how he would take 
such a heavy stroke, he returned from prayer with a cheer- 
ivi. countenance, and told some of his friends who asked him 
the reason of his cheerfulness, that "he had got that in his 
retirement with the Lord, that to have it afterwards renewed, 
he would be content to lose a son every day." 

(6.) Seriously consider that you are but a few days' jour- 
ney behind him for whom you mourn, and that you will 
quickly overtake him and be with him again. mT "~ ------ - 1 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 



243 



David's sorrow for his child: "I shall go to him." 2 Sam. 
12 : 23. It is our expecting to live here, to enjoy the comfort 
of relations, that commonly makes us grieve so much for 
their death ; for if we looked on ourselves as men that were 
to die in a few days, we should not be so troubled for our 
friends that are gone but a little space before us. 

(7.) If your friends are gone to heaven, you have more 
reason to rejoice with them than to mourn for them ; seeing 
they are unspeakably happier where they now are, than they 
could have been with you. It is the most fervent desire and 
wish of every true Christian to be in heaven ; and will you 
grieve because God hath taken your relations thither, where 
you desire to be yourself above all things ? As Christ said 
to his disciples before his death, " If ye loved me, ye would 
rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father." John 14 : 28. 
So, if your departed friend could speak to you from heaven, 
he would say, " If ye loved me with a pure spiritual love, 
ye would rejoice that I am gone to my Father, where I arp 
more happy than, you can possibly conceive of me." 

Objection. Had I ground to think that my friend is 
gone to heaven, it would ease me ; but, alas, I fear it i? 
otherwise. 

Answer 1. It doth not belong to us to inquire into the 
eternal state and condition of those who are gone off the 
stage. Those secret things belong to God, who exerciseth 
his mercy or justice towards sinners according to his sov- 
ereign will. 

2. Supposing the worst, you ought to submit to the 
uncontrollable sovereignty of God, who hath mercy on whom 
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. "He 
is of one mind, and who can turn him ?" The Lord cut off 
Aaron's two sons in the very act of sin and rebellion against 
him, and yet Aaron held his peace, and so ought you. 

3. Whatever be the lot of others hereafter, you have 
reason to be thankful to God, for his distinguishing mercy in 



241 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



saving you from those flames that others fall into, and giving 
you good hope through grace of glorifying God above for 
ever. 

Direction 8. Let the sickness and death of others be a warning 
to you in time of health to make due preparation for the time 
of sickness and of dying which is before you. 

When you see your friends and neighbors in a sickly, 
weak, or dying condition, the language of the dispensation 
to you that are in health is, prepare for sickness also. Nay, 
the feeble voice of the sick doth proclaim this warning as 
loudly as if they should lift up their voice like a trumpet, 
and say to you, " Remember that you must lie in the same 
case ere long ; you also must groan under pain, lose your 
strength and beauty, leave your mirth and company, bid 
adieu to all the world, and look out for the grim messenger 
death, that is coming to dissolve your earthly tabernacle, 
send your body to lie in a putrefying grave, and your soul to 
stand before God's tribunal, to be sentenced to an endless 
state. 1 " This will be thy case, 0 young man, strong man, 
healthful man, as really in a little time as it is of those now 
before your eyes. 0 how soon will it come ; what thoughts 
will you then have of the world, of sin, and vain company. 
Will any thing comfort you then but the favor of God, the 
Love of Christ, and the review of a holy, well-spent life ? 
Wherefore do with all thy might now what thy hands find 
to do, employ the time of health well in preparing for sick- 
ness, and leave nothing to do at that time, which is the most 
unfit season for a man to do the work of salvation in. 

I shall begin with advices to the family into which the 
harbingers of death have come. Surely the warnings of 
sickness and death ought to be louder in your ears than 
others, and most diligently hearkened unto by you, that 
lodge under the same roof with the messengers of the king 
of terrors. 

1. Remember that word, 1 Peter 5:6, "Humble your- 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 245 



selves therefore under the mighty hand of God." It well 
becomes guilty sinners, all ye members of the family, to be 
humble before a holy God, when he is smiting any of them. 
Humbly acknowledge his sovereignty and absolute dominion 
over you, saying, " Lord, thou art the author and founder of 
families, and thou mayest afflict and punish them as thou 
thinkest fit. Thou settest the solitary in families, and mul- 
tipliest their number ; and thou mayest diminish them, yea, 
lay them desolate, according to thy pleasure. Thou might- 
est have made all the members of the family sick, as well as 
one ; thou mightest have given a deadly blow to parents, 
children, and servants at once, yea, have made the house in 
which we live a common grave, and buried us all together 
in its ruins." Humbly acknowledge the justice and mercy 
of God in the present visitation: "Lord, instead of one, we 
all deserved to be thrown on sick-beds, and all of us to have 
been smitten to death. Thou punishest us less than our 
iniquities deserve." Acknowledge also God's wisdom and 
love in the present affliction, and humbly submit to take the 
cup which he hath mingled for you. " The cup which our 
heavenly Father hath ordered for this family, shall we not 
drink it ? It is a wise and gracious God that doth what is 
done in the family ; therefore it is our part to be dumb, and 
not to open our mouths to quarrel with it." 

2. The command which the king of Nineveh gave to all 
his subjects, when threatened with ruin, Jonah 3 : 8, is very 
proper for a master of a family to give to all under his charge, 
when sickness doth range among them : " Fast, and cry 
mightily to God, and turn every one from his evil way: 
who can tell if God will turn away from his fierce anger, 
that" we perish not?" "When the destroying angel gets a 
commission to smite families with mortal and infectious dis- 
eases, which sometimes go from house to house like a plague, 
sweeping many, old and young, off the stage ; then espe- 
cially it should be a time of mighty crying and pleading with 



24t> AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

God for mercy, and since our pleading is wholly ineffectual 
without an atoning sacrifice to incensed justice, let us not 
forget to bring the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ's blood 
along with us, and plead it with God for averting his wrath 
from our houses and families. As Moses said to Aaron in a 
time of common calamity, so may I say to you that are heads 
of families, "Take a censer and incense, and go quickly and 
make atonement for them ; for there is wrath gone out from 
the Lord ; the plague is begun." Numbers 6 : 46. Bring 
the incense of Christ's satisfaction, that great atonement to 
divine justice, which was typified by the legal sacrifices and 
oblations. Humbly and earnestly plead that great sacrifice 
with God, for turning away the fierceness of his wrath. Get 
the bunch of hyssop, faith, in order to the sprinkling of your 
houses with that atoning blood, that so you and your families 
may be among the preserved in Jesus Christ. 

3. Let all the family where sickness is, and especially 
the head of it, remember that word, " Thou shalt put away 
iniquity far from thy tabernacles." Job 22 : 23. God hath 
sent sickness with this message to you : " Search out family 
sins, whether of omission or commission ; mourn over them, 
turn from them, banish them far away. Let no vice lodge 
under your roof. Let family worship be no more neglected, 
nor slightly performed. Let God have both the morning and 
evening sacrifice." Now, if the members of those families 
visited with sickness, who are in health for the present, 
would thus humble themselves, cry to God, plead the blood 
of Christ, and reform what is amiss among them, the pres- 
ent affliction would be sanctified, and they in some measure 
prepared for the like trial, when God shall be pleased to put 
the cup in their hands. 

II. In the next place, let me warn all the friends and 
neighbors of the sick, whether they be of the family or not, 
to improve the day of health in making ready for the time 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 247 



of sickness. Be much in the exercise of self-examination, 
humiliation for sin, believing in Christ, renewing covenant 
with God, mortifying of sin, trimming the lamp, meditating 
upon heaven, living by faith, denying the world, studying to 
overcome the love of life and* the fear of death — concerning 
all which I have given directions in the foregoing chapters of 
this book, when speaking to the sick and distressed. These 
exercises are not only proper for the sick, but also for those 
in health ; and are suitable preparations for sickness and 
death, to be studied by all men in every condition. But 
there are some things further, most necessary to be minded 
by people in time of their health, in order to prepare them 
for the time of sickness and of dying, before it come. 
And, 

1. Make your will and keep it by you, that you may not 
be encumbered with worldly affairs in time of sickness, or 
at a dying hour. Surely it is great wisdom to attend to this 
in time of health. But I have spoken largely of this in 
Chapter L, Direction 6. 

2. Take heed in time of health, that you lay not up 
sad provision against the day of sickness by your careless 
walk. As it is sin that brings sickness upon us, so it is sin 
that imbitters it unto us. Oh beware of all known sins, 
and particularly the sins of earthly-mindedness, unthankful- 
ness for mercies, lukewarmness in religion, neglect to follow 
Christ, neglect of prayer and formality in it, quenching of 
the Spirit, falling from your first love, breach of vows, abus- 
ing signal mercies, sinning after afflictions, turning to old 
sins. Guard against these evils now in the time of health, 
otherwise they will put thorns in your pillow when sickness 
cometh. Dare not to live in such a course as you would not 
venture to die in. How do you know but your next step 
may be into the grave ; and would you be willing to lie 
down there in your sins with earthly, dead, formal, wan- 
dering, and unbelieving hearts ? 



248 ' AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

3. Sit loose from the world, and live as a stranger in it, 
that you may be ready and willing to be gone from it on a 
short warning. Let death find you dead beforehand — dead 
to the world. If your affections be glued to the world, it 
will be a violent rending and sad parting you will have with 
it when the dying hour cometh. You will be ready, Uke 
Lot's wife, to linger, hanker, and look greedily back again. 

4. Keep short reckonings with God and conscience, that 
you may not have old scores *to settle when you come to a 
death-bed. Oh what stinging pain and torment may one 
sin unmourned for cost you at that time. Let conscience 
bring in the accounts every day before you sleep, and speed- 
ily take up every controversy that may arise between God 
and thy soul. 

5. Dwell much upon the thoughts of death, that you 
may learn to be acquainted and familiar with it, as Job 
was, who said beforehand to corruption, " Thou art my father, 
and to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister." Job 
17 : 14. For this cause the Egyptians used to place a dead 
man's skull in some conspicuous place of their rooms ; the 
Jews likewise had their sepulchres in their gardens of pleas- 
ure, that so in the midst of their delights they might think 
on their dying time. "We read of Philip king of Macedon, 
that he ordered a page every morning to rouse him from 
sleep with these words, "0 king, remember thou art a mor- 
tal man." By this oft-repeated lesson he labored to humble 
his lofty mind, and make his acquaintance with death, that 
it might not seem strange or surprising to him when it 
should actually come and snatch him away. 

6. Study to spend every day as if it were to be your last 
and perform every duty as if it were the last, always look 
ing on sickness and death as very near. That which makes 
most men so unconcerned about sickness, death, and eternity 
is, they view them as things afar off — at thirty or forty years' 
distance. They think their time will be long here ; why ' 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 249 



they are healthy, of a strong constitution, and their fathers 
lived so long : which surely are false rules to judge by. 
It was the expectation of many years that helped on the 
ruin of that rich fool in the gospel. It were lar better for 
every man to look on himself as standing every day and 
night at the door of eternity, and hundreds of diseases ready 
to open the door and let him in. When you lie down at 
night, leave your heart with Christ, and compose your spirits 
so as if you were not to awake till the heavens are no more ; 
for certainly that night cometh of which you will never see 
the morning, or that morning of which you will never see 
the night. But which of your mornings or nights this will 
be you know not, seeing your times are not in your own 
hands. 

7. Set apart some time daily for thinking, in a retired 
way, upon your time that is past, and upon eternity that is 
to come. The neglect of this duty of meditation and retired 
thinking is very injurious, both to the godly and ungodly. 
It was David's practice to think, and to think upon his 
ways ; which engaged him to reform whatever he found 
amiss in them. Psa. 119 : 59. Oh it is the ruin of many 
a soul — they are utter strangers to this way of thinking. I 
have read of a father, who on his death-bed left it as a sol- 
emn charge upon his only son, who was a prodigal, that he 
should spend a quarter of an hour every day in retired think- 
ing, and let him choose any subject he pleased. The son 
thinks this an easy task, undertakes it, and after his father's 
death sets himself to perform his promise. One day he 
thinks upon his past pleasures ; another day he contrives 
his future delights; after a while he begins to think seri- 
ously what might be his father's design in laying this task 
upon him ; at length he thinks, his father was a wise and 
good man, therefore surely he intended and hoped that 
among the rest of his meditations he would some time or 
other think of religion. "When this had truly possessed his 
11* 



250 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION 



thoughts, one thought and question comes upon the back of 
another about his past life and future state, so that he could 
not content himself with so short a confinement, but was all 
that night without sleep ; yea, and afterwards could have 
no rest till he became seriously religious. Oh that I could 
persuade all careless and unthinking souls to go and do like- 
wise. Ah, how many spend their days in a hurry about 
their worldly affairs, and perish for want of thinking. 

8. Among other subjects of your retired thoughts, spend 
some time in thinking how awful and terrible a thing it 
must be for a poor Christless soul to make its appearance 
before an angry God after death. "For who can dwell 
with devouring fire ; who can abide with everlasting burn- 
ings ?" I have read of a certain king of Hungary, who 
being at one time extremely sad and heavy, his brother, 
who was a brisk and gallant man, insisted to know the rea- 
son : "Oh, brother," says he, "I have been a great sinner 
against God, and I know not how I shall appear before his 
judgment-seat." His brother answered, " These are but 
melancholy thoughts ;" and so made light of them, as most 
courtiers used to do. The king replied nothing at that time ; 
but the custom of that country was, if the executioner 
sounded a trumpet at a man's door, he was presently to be 
led to execution. The king sent the executioner in the dead 
of the night, and caused him to sound his trumpet at his 
brother's door, who hearing and seeing the iaessenger of 
death, sprang in trembling into his brother's presence, falls 
down upon his knees, and beseeches the king to let him 
know wherein he had offended him. "Oh, brother," said 
the king, "you never offended me, but loved me. But is the 
sight of an earthly executioner so terrible to thee ; and shall 
not I, who am so great a sinner, fear much more to be 
brought to the judgment-seat of an angry God?" 

9. Think often how religiously men wish they had lived 
when they come to the time of sickness and death. Those 



DUTIES OF FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. 2ol 



who have spent their time most carelessly, begin to have 
other notions of religion when they see the grim messenger 
approaching. Go to their bedsides, and ask them whether 
sloth or diligence, formality or fervency, drinking or praying, 
loving the world or loving Christ, be the best ; would they 
not tell you, that there are none so wise as they that aro 
most religious ? Think, 0 man, think with thyself, if thou 
wert now upon thy death-bed, and sawest thy friends stand 
mourning about thee, but unable to help thee, what would 
be thy thoughts and discourse at that time? Oh, then, let 
some of the same thoughts and discourse fill up every day 
and hour of thy life now. Thou knowest not but this mo- 
ment thou mayest be as near death, as if thy friends and 
physicians were despairing of thy life, and had given thee 
over for dead. 

10. Be employed now in fighting the good fight of faith, 
You have many enemies to contend with, and death is the 
last of them. Would you obtain the victory over them ? 
Then get on the Christian armor, and make much use of 
the shield of faith. We read in the book of Esther, that 
king Ahasuerus would not recall the proclamation he had 
emitted against the Jews, but he gave them full liberty to 
take up arms to defend themselves and attack their ene- 
mies ; so here, God will not recall the sentence of death he 
passed upon all men, in the garden ; nevertheless, he allows, 
yea, commissions all true Israelites to take up arms against 
death, to conquer and trample it under foot by faith. 

11. Be busy now in health, providing and laying up a 
stock against the time of sickness and affliction, which may 
contribute to your comfortable living then, when the world's 
good things will be tasteless and comfortless to you. As those 
who have a voyage to make victual their ship, and those 
who have a siege to hold take in provisions, even so do ye. 

Get a stock of graces against that time, especially a stock 
of faith, of patience, of humility, self-denial, etc. There will 



252 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



be use for all these then. A little grace, or a little faith, is 
not enough ; for this will faint under afflictions. We read, 
that when the winds "began to blow fiercely, Peter's little 
faith began to fail, You have need of a great measure of 
patience against that time, that you may wait quietly on 
God till he come to your relief. You know not but he may 
lengthen out your trials, and tarry till the fourth watch of 
the night before he come with deliverance. 

"Provide a stock of evidences of grace, and of the love of 
God, that you may be able to assert your interest in him as 
your portion in Christ, and may be persuaded that neither 
death nor life will ever separate you from him. 

Get a stock of divine experiences. Lay up all the expe- 
riences you have had of God's loving-kindness, and these 
will give great relief and encouragement to the soul in the 
day of distress. 

Lay up a stock of sermons. Treasure up the counsels 
and cordials which they bring you from God's wprd, that so 
you may, according to Isa. 42 : 23, " hear for the time to 
come," and especially for the time of sickness, when you 
cannot get sermons to hear. Then it is that you ought to 
live and feed upon the sermons you have heard. 

Lay up a stock of prayers. Be much in wrestling with 
God for help and support in the day of affliction, and so you 
may expect gracious answers to your prayer in the day ol 
calamity. 

Provide a stock of promises. Gather now these sweet 
cordials from God's word, and lay them up in your heart 
and mejaory, and they will be very refreshing and support- 
ing to you in the day of affliction. 

Direction 9. Let those who are in health set about the work of 
repentance and turning to God in Christ quickly; and beware 
of delaying this work until the time of sickness and dying. 
God's command to you is, to set about the work pres- 
ently, without any delay : " To-day if ye will hear his voice, 



IMMEDIATE REPENTANCE. 253 

harden not your hearts." Heb. 3*: 7, 8. "Go, work to- 
day in my vineyard." Matt. 21 : 28. " Remember now thy 
Creator in the days of thy youth." Eccles. 11 : 1. Well, 
God's voice to you, 0 man in health, is, " To-day ;" but the 
devil's voice to you is, " To-morrow." And which of the 
two will you hearken to ? Surely it is your wisdom to obey 
the voice of your Creator and friend, and not of your enemy 
and destroyer. "Why ? To-day thou art in health — to-morrow 
thou mayest be in sickness ; to-day thou art on earth — to-mor- 
row thou mayest be in hell; to-day Christ is inviting you to 
come to him — to-morrow he may be sentencing you to depart 
from him : and consider, that the devil who tempts you to 
1 delay this day, will be as ready to tempt you to the same to- 
morrow, and so the devil's to-morrow will never come. It 
will still be to-morrow with him to the last hour, that so he 
may get you cheated out of your whole time and salvation 
together. 

Here I shall endeavor to bring arguments to persuade 
you to repent and close with the offers of Christ presently, 
without delay, as God requires ; and to show the evil and 
danger of delaying till the time of sickness and dying. As 
to the first, namely, arguments for present repentance, 
and against delaying the work, 

1. Consider the uncertainty of your life and time to re- 
pent. Your life is but a vapor — a little warm breath that 
is going out and in at your nostrils, which may be stopped 
by death ere you be aware : " Thou knowest not what a day 
may bring forth." Prov. 27 : 1 . It was the saying of a godly 
man, when invited to a feast upon the morrow, " I have not 
had a morrow for these many years." It was a bad use tho 
epicures made of this uncertainty : " Let us eat and drink ; 
for to-morrow we shall die." Isa. 22 : 13. It is much 
wiser to say, " Let us pray, and turn to the Lord ; for to- 
morrow we shall die." Nay, you have not security for one 
hour to repent in ; for God hath a thousand diseases and ac* 



254 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 

Mi 

cidents ready to stop your breath and end your days when- 
ever he pleaseth to give them orders. There are many 
secure sinners who presume on long life, but there are none 
nearer destruction than such, for God is wont to disappoint 
those that promise themselves a long life in sin and impeni- 
tency, as he did that rich man who was laying up for many 
years : " This night thy soul shall be required of thee." 
Luke 12 : 19. And 0 what a dark and dismal night will 
it be, if death come before thy repentance. 0 man, thou 
never didst lie down one night with assurance of rising 
again ; thou never heardst one sermon with assurance of 
hearing another ; thou never didst draw one breath with 
assurance of drawing another. What madness then to de- 
lay salvation one day or hour longer, and so to leave the 
weightiest matter in the world at the greatest uncertainty. 

2. Consider that though God in wonderful mercy and 
patience should prolong your days, yet the longest life is 
short enough for the work you have to do, even if you begin 
it now. Nay, had you Methuselah's years to spend, they 
would be no more than sufficient to repent and mourn for 
the sins and guilt which you have been so long contracting, 
to reform and amend the many things that have been amiss, 
to perform all the duties incumbent on you, to make sure 
your calling and election, and put your soul in a good pos- 
ture and preparation for an eternal state, and get it made 
meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. 
Now, do you think that all this work can be done in an 
instant, or in a time of sickness or old-age, when you are 
hardly fit to do any thing ? When a man's spirit is unable 
to bear the infirmities of nature, how will he be able to bear 
the lashes of a guilty conscience or a wounded spirit ? 
When the understanding is weak, the memory frail, the will 
obstinately bent the wrong way by a long custom of sinning 
and neglecting of duty, will that be a fit time to begin the 
work of repentance and conversion to God ? When nature 



IMMEDIATE REPENTANCE. 



255 



is decayed, and the candle of life just sinking in the socket, 
will you begin then to act for God, and make your light 
shine before men to his glory ? 0 remember your work is 
long, your time is short, and though you begin this very hour 
you will have no time to spare. 

3, Delay not this work, because it is not of yourself only 
to do it when you please. It is a delusion of the devil to 
imagine you may thus repent when you will. No, no ; it is 
God that giveth repentance, and he gives it when and to 
whom he pleaseth. Acts 5:31. And it is a mere perad- 
venture if ever he give it to a delaying sinner. 2 Tim. 
2 : 25. When is it that you may have hopes he will give 
repentance, but when he calls you to it t and prescribes 
means to be used for that end ? Now, that is, to-day, " To- 
day, if you will hear his voice : now is the day of salvation." 
To-day, when God is calling and the Spirit striving, is the 
time of finding the Lord and getting repentance from him. 
To-morrow it may be too late ; the Lord's hand may be 
closed, and the door of mercy be shut. If you refuse the 
Spirit when he strives with you, he may leave you and 
never put in your heart another serious thought of turning 
to the Lord. 0 defer not seeking repentance till it be too 
late ; for there is a time when the Lord will not be found, 
and then repentance will not be obtained, though you seek 
it with tears. Indeed God hath promised mercy to penitent 
sinners, but he hath nowhere promised the aids of his grace 
and Spirit to them that put off their repentance ; and he 
hath nowhere promised acceptance to mere grief and sorrow 
for sin, without faith and fruits meet for repentance. He 
hath nowhere promised to pardon those who only promise 
to leave their sins when they can keep them no longer. 

4. The longer repentance and closing with Christ is 
delayed, the difficulty thereof is every day increased. Why ? 
1. Because of the deceitful nature of sin, which doth daily 
bewitch and harden the heart more and more in the practice 



25G 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



of it. 2. Custom in any thing hath a strong influence on 
us ; it becomes a kind of second nature and breeds an almost 
invincible inclination to whatever we have long addicted 
ourselves to, whether it be in actions natural or moral. 
Hence even a heathen poet gives this good advice : 

"Sed propera, nec te venturas differ in horas; 
Qui non est hodie, eras minus aptus erit." 

Be speedy ; put not off till another time : 

He who is not prepared to-day, will be less prepared to-morrow, 

He that goes on from day to day in sin, will find his 
indisposition to repent daily increased, the habits of sin 
strengthened, and himself brought at length under the power 
of an inveterate custom. And if it be hard to break any 
custom, much more a custom in sinning, which is so agree- 
able to depraved nature. Hence saith the Spirit of God, 
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his 
spots ? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to 
do evil." Jer. 13 : 23. 3. The longer Satan keeps posses- 
sion, the more difficult will his ejection prove. The devils 
that possessed the man from the womb up, could not be cast 
out but by some extraordinary way. 4. Delays bring on 
spiritual judgments from God, such as judicial hardness of 
the heart, which will make repentance impossible, according 
to that terrible place, Isa. 6 : 9, .10, "Make the heart of this 
people fat," etc., which is quoted no less than six times in 
the New Testament, as if it belonged only to them that linger 
and sit impenitent under gospel calls. 

5. We should reckon such delays madness in earthly 
affairs, which are but trifles when compared to salvation. 
If a man's house were on fire, we should count him mad if 
he should say it is time enough to quench it to-morrow ; or, 
if he were stung with a venomous serpent, if he should 
neglect to seek an instant cure. If he had got poison in his 
stomach, surely he would never think he could soon enough 
vomit it up. If a malefactor were condemned to a cruel 



IMMEDIATE REPENTANCE. 



257 



death to-morrow, but had a promise of remission if he should 
look after it to-day, would he be so foolish as to delay it till 
next morning ? • But how much greater madness is it to delay 
repenting and fleeing to Christ, when God's calls and prom- 
ises relate to the present time, and our danger in delaying is 
infinitely greater than in any of the aforesaid cases ? Surely 
there is no sting so dangerous, no poison so deadly as sin ; 
and can we too soon seek after the balm of Gilead, the blood 
of Christ, for its cure ? There is no death like the second 
death, no fire so dreadful as the eternal fire of God's wrath. 
Now this fire is already kindled against your souls ; and if 
it be not soon quenched, it will burn to the lowest hell. 
Lose no time to get it extinguished, by fleeing to the blood 
of Jesus. 

The next thing is to show the evil and danger of de- 
laying this work until the time of sickness and of dying. 
Alas, it is the common practice of most men. But con- 
sider, 

1. What wretched ingratitude and baseness there is in 
it. Is it fit you should give the best of your time to God 
that made you, or to the devil that seeks your destruction ? 
[s it reasonable that the devil should feast on the flower and 
prime of your youth and strength, and your Creator have no 
other but the fragments of the devil's table ? When the 
dregs of your time are come, your strength gone, your senses 
failed, your understanding and memory weak, your affections 
spent upon the creature, yea, when you are good for nothing 
else, will you be so base as to think you are then good enough 
for God, and for the work of salvation, which requires all 
your strength and might ? But remember, if you be so base 
as to reserve the dregs of your time for God, you may expect 
he will be so just as to reserve the dregs of his wrath for you, 
according to that word, " Cursed be the deceiver, which hath 
in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord 
a corrupt thing." Mai. 1:14. Your youth, strength, health, 



258 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



gifts, and talents are the males of the flock ; if you give these 
to the devil, and reserve the weakness of sickness and old- 
age for God, you draw down his curse upon your head ; and 
how long will you be able to bear up under the weight of 
God's curse ? Now, 0 delaying sinner, why shculd you be 
so ungrateful to God, and injurious to yourself? God had 
early thoughts of mercy to you ; and will you have nothing 
but late thoughts of duty to him ? Christ did not defer his 
dying for us till he was old ; and shall we defer living to him 
till we be old ? Oh, we do not deal with God as we would 
have him deal with us. When we need help in trouble, we 
cry, "Hear my prayer, 0 Lord; in the day when I call, 
answer me speedily." Psalm 102 : 1, 2. To-day we still 
make the season of mercy, but to-morrow the season for 
duty. "When mercy is delayed, we impatiently cry, How 
long, how long? We will not wait God's holy leisure. 
But alas, we would have God wait our sinful leisure. Oh, 
let us be ashamed of such disingenuous dealing with our 
Creator. 

2. Death may get a commission to take you off suddenly 
without giving you any time to repent. You are not sure to 
see the evening star of sickness before the night of death 
overtake you, or that you will have any warning given you 
before the fatal stroke. For how many are there who pro- 
ject long lives and look for time before death to repent, that 
get a sudden call to flit from the earthly tabernacle, and have 
not one minute to provide another lodging. How many are 
drowned by a sudden storm at sea ; and how many killed 
by outward accidents on land. Some drop down suddenly 
in the streets ; some die sitting in their chairs ; some go well 
to bed at night, and never see the morning ; some die in 
a fit of epilepsy or apoplexy, as if shot with a gun. Thus 
thousands are hurried into eternity and presented before God's 
tribunal, without being allowed so much time as to think 
one serious thought or speak one word — not a moment to 



IMMEDIATE REPENTANCE. 



259 



consider where they are going, or to cry to God for mercy. 
And how know you hut this may be your case at death ? 
Must it not he the greatest folly then to delay your repent- 
ance to a dying time, when your life may not he one minute 
longer ? 

3. Though you may have some time to lie on a sick- 
bed, how know you hut your next sickness may he such as 
shall incapacitate you for spiritual work ? Some we see so 
oppressed with continual slumbering and sleeping, even when 
death is nearest, that they are in no case to think or speak 
of those things that belong to their eternal state. Others, in 
high fevers, are troubled with roving minds, and have no 
use of their reason, so that they are not capable of settling 
their worldly affairs ; and how much less are they fit to 
secure their soul's eternal concerns at that time. Some, 
again, are so racked- with pains and agonies, impatient fret- 
ting, and bitter uneasiness, that they cannot get one settled 
thought about their soul's present or future state. Others 
are so filled with terror and amazement at the view of ap- 
proaching death and eternity, that they cannot compose their 
thoughts to examine themselves, confess their sins, act faith 
in a Saviour, or follow any direction that is given them ; 
but go off the stage in distraction, being incapable of doing 
any thing to purpose for their souls. Some are brought to a 
great strait between the word of God and the physician. 
The word of God and his ministers tell them, if they do not 
mourn for their sins and wrestle for mercy, they cannot be 
saved ; but saith the physician, if you trouble yourself with 
sad and melancholy thoughts, you prejudice your health and 
hazard your life. Oh, is this a fit time to begin your prepa- 
ration for another world? 

4. The Spirit of God being long resisted and vexed by 
many in the day of health, is provoked to leave them on 
death-beds to the hardness of their own hearts ; and so they 
remain like stocks and stones, dead and stupid to the last. 



260 AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



5. The devil, who was busy all your life to keep you 
from repentance, will not be idle at this time ; nay, he will 
be more active than ever to ruin you, by causing you- to 
split on the rock either of presumption or of despair. He 
will sometimes tell sinners, " You need not trouble yourselves 
about your souls ; God is more merciful than to damn you ; 
the repentance you have already will serve the turn." But 
if this will not quiet them, he will study to drive them to 
despair, by telling them, " You have lost the season of repent- 
ance and closing with Christ ; and now there is no remedy 
and no hope for you, and it is in vain to use any further 
means." 0 then, do not hearken to Satan now, when he 
tempts you to delay your repentance. • 

6. Whatever appearance of repentance some dying per- 
sons may have, let that be no encouragement to put off the 
work till that time. Why ? There lieth a just suspicion upon 
a late repentance, that it is seldom sound and sincere. It is 
no sound work that ariseth more from fears of hell than from 
any real hatred of sin — more from love to self than love to 
God. And it is to be feared that death-bed repentance is 
mostly of this sort, seeing ordinarily it consisteth more in 
grief and fear, prayers and promises, than in a hearty loath- 
ing of sin, love to holiness, or willingness to accept of Jesus 
Christ ; for have we not seen many of those penitents, who, 
in the view of death, have professed great sorrow for their 
wicked lives, and made solemn promises of amendment, yet 
when they have happened to recover, all their righteousness 
hath vanished, and they have returned to their former sins 
as greedily as ever ? And 0, delaying sinner, what ground 
have you to think that your death-bed repentance will be 
any better than theirs ? Be wise then in time ; set heartily 
about securing salvation in the day of your health, and do 
not leave the weightiest work to the weakest time. 

Objection I. But hath not God promised mercy to them 
that repent of their sins at any time ? 



IMMEDIATE REPENTANCE . 



261 



Answer. Yes, to them that repent truly and sincerely : but 
do not think that it is in your power to repent so at any time 
you please ; no, it is impossible you can do it without the in- 
fluence and assistance of the Spirit of God. And God hath 
nowhere promised this to those who put off their repentance 
to a death-bed. There is a great difference between a sick 
man's howling upon his bed, and sincere gospel repenting 
I grant true repentance is never too late"; but 0, late repent- 
ance is seldom true. True repentance is that which hath a 
care to walk holily, or hath works meet for repentance joined 
with it. Hence repentance is not only called metanoia, a 
change of mind ; but also metameleia, an after-care. Now, 
for a death-bed repentance, that hath no such holy care or 
good works, I know no promise in the Bible that annexeth 
salvation unto it. 

Objection 2. Do not we read in Christ's parable of the 
laborers, Matt. 20, that some were hired and brought into 
the vineyard at the eleventh hour, and got the same reward 
with those that were hired at the first and third hours ? 

Answer 1. Those that were brought in so late, could 
say for themselves, verse 7, that no man had hired tfrem, or 
had offered to hire them before ; the gospel call and offer of 
salvation through Christ had not been tendered to them. 
But 0, this will not stand you in stead, who have had many 
a call and offer made you at the third, sixth, and ninth hour, 
and have resisted and refused them : you will not have it 
to say at the eleventh hour, as these had, "No man hath 
hired us." 

2. Those men, though they came in but at the elev- 
enth hour, not being sooner hired, yet they were laborers in 
the vineyard, and wrought one hour therein faithfully, in 
obedience to their Lord's command, and so brought forth 
bome fruits meet for repentance, and were accepted. But 
this is no encouragement to any to expect to be brought in 
at the twelfth hour, when there is no time to work, nor 



262 



AFFLICTED MAN'S COMPANION. 



bring" forth any fruits to testify the sincerity of their repent- 
ance ; we have no promise of acceptance made to such. 

Objection 3. The penitent thief on the cross sought 
mercy from Christ at the last hour, and got it. 

Answer. That is a single instance, and gives no encour- 
agement to delaying sinners. The Scriptures contain a his- 
tory of more than four thousand years, and yet during all 
this time we have hut one example of a man that truly and 
sincerely repented when he came to die. And in this man's 
case there was such an extraordinary conjunction of circum- 
stances as never happened before, and can never fall out 
again to the end of the world. This man had the happiness 
to die close by the newly pierced and bleeding wounds of a 
crucified Jesus, when he was lifted up from the earth in the 
height of his love, drawing sinners to salvation ; which was 
the juncture that can never have a parallel. Again, the 
man never had any offer of Christ nor day of grace before 
now ; he surrendered himself upon the very first call ; and 
his faith in Christ at this time was truly singular and mirac- 
ulous. He was designed by heaven to be made a rare mon- 
ument of the power of Christ's grace, and a special trophj 
of his victory over devils and wicked men, at a time when 
they seemed to triumph over him, as one crucified through 
weakness. 

From all which we may see that this example was ex- 
traordinary, and affords no ground for the presumption of 
delaying sinners. You may as well cast yourselves into the 
sea in hopes of preservation by a whale, from the exam- 
ple of Jonah, as defer repentance now in hopes of repent- 
ing on a death-bed, from the example of the thief on the 
cross. Your way of sinning differs vastly from his. He was 
not guilty of presumption, as you are ; he did not slight 
Christ's call and offers in the day of his health, and delay 
his repenting and closing with Christ, in hopes of an oppor- 
tunity for them at the hour of death, as you do. Do you 



;., . 

know what God determines concerning presumptuous sin^ 
ning ? You may see it in Numbers 15 : 28, 30, 31. " And 
the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth 
ignorantly. But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, 
whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same re- 
proacheth the Lord : and that soul shall be cut off from 
among his people, because he hath despised the word of 
the Lord." 0 presumptuous, delaying sinner, let this word 
of the Lord awaken you to a speedy, an immediate resolu- 
tion to obey his voice. " Return ye now every one from his 
evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." Jer. 
18 : 11. Now is the accepted time: if you will hear his 
voice, it must be to-day. Lord, save us from hardening ou? 
hearts. Amen. 



THE 



MOURNER; 



THE AFFLICTED RELIEVED- 



BY BENJAMIN GROSVENOR, D. D. 



REVISED. 



A3 one that comlcrteth the mourners. Job 29 : 25. 

To him that is afflicted, pity should be shown. Job 6 •li. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 
Affl. Man's Conip. 1 2 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 

Allowances made to the mourner, and -which will be made both by Grod and 



man, 281 

SECTION II. 

Cases in which our mourning may be esteemed excessive and immoder- 
ate, 287 

SECTION III. 

Submission to the will of Grod, and resignation to his providence, with respect 
to our thoughts, 293 

SECTION IV. 

Of submission to the will of Grod, as it regards the frame of our spirit and tem- 
per of our minds, 297 

SECTION V. 

Of submission, as it respects our behavior and carriage, • • 299 

SECTION VI. 

The impediments that hinder this so reasonable a duty, and so lovely a frame 
of soul, in a time of sorrow, 303 

SECTION VII. 

Help against immoderate grief, from some considerations with respect to Grod, 
-who taketh away, 308 

SECTION VIII. 



Help against immoderate grief with respect to the persons departed, • • • • 315 

SECTION IX. 

Help against inordinate sorrow, from some considerations with regard to our- 
selves, '. 321 



268 CONTENTS. 

SECTION X. 

Help against immoderate grief, from considerations with respect to others and 
the world ahout us, • 327 

SECTION XI. 

Directions to mourners. 331 

SECTION XII. 

ThecloEe, 338 



INTRODUCTION. 



TO THE MOURNERS WHOSE LATE SORROWS ARE ESPEC 
IALLY REGARDED IN THE FOLLOWING PAPERS : 

My dear Friends — As soon as you cast your eyes 
upon this little piece, some of you will immediately 
think of the good husband who is no more, or of the 
tender parent who has given the last blessing. Others 
will remember the dear wife, the desire of your eyes ; 
the pretty child, in whose life your own seemed to be 
bound up ; the brother will come into mind, who was 
as your own soul ; and the excellent friend, who 
sometimes stioketh closer than a brother. I have had 
all these cases in my eye ; and with a sympathy that 
can only arise from some experience and benevolence 
in conjunction, have endeavored to assuage and im- 
prove your sorrows at the same time. 

It is somewhat necessary to have been acquaint- 
ed with grief, in order to address it suitably to the 
tenderness of its nature ; to obviate the subtlety of 
its pleas and pretensions for excess, and to manage 
its operations and effects. There is danger otherwise 



270 



INTRODUCTION. 



of increasing the anguish we would alleviate, and 
causing the wound to bleed afresh : even balm itself 
may be painfully applied. 

There are, indeed, some wounds that will heal of 
themselves. Grive them a little time, and the stock 
of sorrow is not so great but it will quickly be spent ; 
the hasty showers will soon be over. But the real 
mourner is apt to have the reasons of his anguish 
continually before him ; and to be more intent upon 
wasting his spirits than his sorrows : fond of solitude 
and silence, that he may indulge his passion and pro- 
voke the emotion of that grief which is ready to de- 
vour him ; taking a sort of pleasure to lie down under 
its oppression, and becoming a willing prey to its 
furious disorders. Upon our offering to speak, they 
reply eagerly, "It is an easy matter to talk ; you 
would limit my grief, and not suffer its vent; but if 
it were your own case, you would resign yourselves 
up to it, or faint under the pressure of such a calam- 
ity." The first onsets of sorrow do indeed call for 
compassion more than advice ; we are to u mourn 
with them that mourn." The silence of Job's friends, 
"because they saw his grief was very great," was 
more to the purpose than any thing they could say. 
Tt would be inhuman to deny the relief of mourning, 
when mourning itself is often its own relief. But is 
there any harm in prescribing bounds to it? By 
what rule of common-sense should grief be left un- 
limited, more than any other passion ? Why such 
costly sacrifices as health and life, and the comforts 



INTRODUCTION 



271 



of both, to a calamity that you think has carried off 
too much already ? We may pay the tribute of a 
few tears to the memory of some dear objects ; but 
then religion says, we should " weep as if we wept 
not, ; because there will ever be more occasion of joy 
to a good man than of sorrow. And philosophy 
says, it is a needless aggravation of misery to faint 
under our pains, and not have courage to suffer 
those misfortunes which it is not in our power to 
avoid. 

Should the pilot abandon the helm in a vio- 
lent tempest? Should reason and grace be least 
hearkened to when their dictates are most rea- 
sonable, and their maxims most needful ? Has not 
this weakness of mind betrayed abundance of peo- 
ple into those extremities that are a disgrace to 
human nature, and a reproach to the Christian char- 
acter? 

Ye children of affliction, break the tide of sorrow, 
by throwing it into different channels ; and direct its 
course so as to make it useful to spiritual purposes. 
It will be more easy at such a time to convert the 
sorrow of this world, that worketh death, into that 
godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto life. So 
other natural passions may be sanctified, by making 
them assist in the exercise of spiritual grace. It is 
a tender time, while the soul is more susceptible of 
impression, and turns more easily, as the softened 
wax to the seal. As thankfulness is a proper graft 
upon the joys of prosperity, when the heart is enlarg- 



272 



INTRODUCTION. 



ed, so will godly sorrow be seasonable to a mournful 
occasion ; and the rather, because this is one great 
end of God in all our afflictions. 

I know not whether it has been observed, but 
to me it seems that the measures of mourning are 
represented to lessen in proportion as men are near- 
er to Grod. The people of God, under the Old Tes- 
tament, were forbidden those signs of sorrow that 
were common among the Gentiles, as cutting them- 
selves and tearing their hair. It was their glory to 
have Grod so nigh to them. The priests among them 
were not allowed those expressions of sorrow which 
were indulged to the people. The priests were nearer 
to Grod, and ministered before him. The Nazarite, 
who by a special separation was most nearly devoted 
to Grod, had the least to do with mourning or its forms, 
" because the consecration of his Grod was upon his 
head." Numb. 6 : 7. The Christian church, who 
are brought nigh by the blood of Christ, a peculiar 
holy people, and a royal priesthood, are laid under 
this prohibition, that " they sorrow not as do others," 
1 Thess. 4 : 13 ; neither as other Jews, nor as other 
Grentiles. Among Christians, the apostles being near- 
est to God in holiness and spirituality, were the best 
able to rejoice in tribulation. "As sorrowful, yet 
always rejoicing." And to mount the last, highest 
<step of this gradation, heaven, where we are nearest 
of all to God, "there shall be no more sorrow," Rev. 
21 :4; "everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; 
thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. In thy pref 



INTRODUCTION. 



273 



enee is fulness of joy ; at thy right hand are pleasures 
for evermore." 

The most comfortable thoughts in this case, and 
such as make up the very cordial of consolation, be- 
long only to a truly good man, and can only be relish- 
ed by such a one. "Why do you oppose a man of this 
world with arguments drawn from another? You 
talk of heaven, and he minds nothing but earth. You 
propose the calm, healing thought of the divine ap- 
probation, with the pleasure and honor of Grod's favor, 
to a man who says unto G-od, " Depart from us ; we 
desire not the knowledge of thy ways." You preach 
the consolations of Grod, which are not small, to one 
who knows no consolation but in corn and wine and 
oil. What comfort to a man from the thoughts of 
the shortness of human life, whose greatest trouble is 
that it is so short, or else who is apprehensive that 
the end of these troubles will begin those which shall 
never end ? He has no more title to this true com- 
fort, than he has fitness for it ; the good man only 
being qualified for, and capable of this. Christian 
consolations belong only to Christians ; they are of no 
use to others who have neither part nor lot in this 
matter, any more than in that heaven whence they 
are derived. They suppose a disposition capable of 
them, as the rudiments of any science are previous to 
the operations of that science ; but the promiscuous 
application of these comforts to all sorts of characters, 
is mere quackery in divinity, instead of approved 
remedies and fair practice. " The secret of the Lord 
12* 



214 



INTRODUCTION. 



is with them that fear him ; because he hath shown 
unto them his covenant." Others must go to Cicero, 
Seneca, or Plutarch de Consolatione, and try what 
their flourishes and general reasoning will do. The 
aids of ancient philosophy, how dry, how insufficient 
they are, will appear from a few passages, which I 
take leave to borrow from archbishop Tillotson, one of 
the best writers upon the best of subjects — the ex- 
cellency of the Christian religion. 

" Some pretend to doubt whether there was ever 
any such thing as sense of pain ; and yet when any 
great evil was upon them, they would certainly sigh 
and groan as pitifully, and cry out as loud as other 
men. 

" Others have sought to ease themselves by main- 
taining that afflictions are no real evils, and therefore 
wise men ought not to be troubled at them ; but he- 
must be a very wise man indeed that can forbear 
being troubled at things which are very troublesome ; 
and yet thus Possidonius distinguished, as Cicero tells 
us : he could not deny pain to be very troublesome, 
but he was resolved never to acknowledge it to be an 
evil. But sure it is a very slender comfort that relies 
on this nice distinction between things being trouble- 
some, and being evils, when all the evil of afflic- 
tion lies in the trouble it creates to us. And when 
the best that can be is made of this argument, it- 
is good for nothing but to be thrown away as a 
stupid paradox, and against the common-sense of 
mankind. 



INTRODUCTION. 



275 



" Others have endeavored to elude their trouble 
by a graver way of reasoning : that these things are 
fated and necessary; and that we ought not to be 
troubled at what we cannot help. But this only 
proves trie trouble to be as fixed as the calamity that 
occasions it. And perhaps, that a thing cannot bo 
helped, is one of the justest causes of trouble to a 
wise man ; as Augustus smartly replied to one that 
administered this comfort to him on the fatality of 
things : this was so far from giving any ease to his 
mind, that, says he, 'This is the very thing that 
troubles me.' 

" Others have tried to divert and entertain the 
troubles of other men* by pretty and plausible say- 
ings, such as this, 6 That if evils are long, they are but 
light ; if sharp, but short ;' and a hundred such like. 
Now I am apt to imagine, that it is but a very small 
comfort that a plain, ordinary man, lying under a 
sharp fit of the stone for a week together, receives 
from this fine sentence ; for what pleasure soever 
men, who are at ease and leisure, may take in being 
the authors of witty sayings, I doubt it is but poor 
consolation that a man under great and stinging 
afflictions can find from them. 

"The best moral argument to patience, in my 
opinion, is the advantage of patience itself. To bear 
evils as quietly as we can, is the way to make them 
lighter and easier ; but to toss and fling, and be rest- 
less, is good for nothing but to fret and enrage our 
pain, to gall our sores, and make the burden upon u«* 



276 



INTRODUCTION. 



sit more uneasily. And this , is properly no, consid- 
eration of comfort, but an art of managing ourselves 
under our afflictions so as not to make them more 
grievous than indeed they are. 

" But now the arguments that Christianity pro- 
pounds to us, are such as prove a just and reasonable 
encouragement for men to bear affliction patiently." 
And then the author mentions "the example of Christ 
and the first Christians, and the glory that shall fol- 
low the light afflictions of this present time ;" and 
closes this part of his subject with a passage in the 
i 'life of Lipsius, who was a great studier and admirer 
of the Stoic philosophy. "When he lay on his death- 
bed, and one of his friends who came to visit him, 
said, that he need not use arguments to persuade him 
to patience under his pains — the philosophy which he 
had studied so much would furnish him with motives 
enough to that purpose ; he answers him with this 
ejaculation, 1 Lord Jesus, give me Christian patience.' 
No patience is like that which the considerations of 
Christianity are apt to work in us." 

This is one instance of the excellence of the Chris- 
tian religion, its furnishing us with the best motives 
and considerations to patience under the evils and 
afflictions of this life. 

All the other philosophical thoughts, so far as they 
are of any use, the Christian can take and make his 
best of; and when they fail, he knows where to go. 
He can turn to God, and say, " ' "When wilt thou com- 
fort me ?' If thou dost not, all the world cannot. 



INTRODUCTION. 



277 



Without thee, miserable comforters are they all. If 
thou dost not speak peace, there will be no end of my 
trouble. This balm is only to be found in Gilead, 
' Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation ;' say, ' Be 
of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee.' And then 
will I say, ' In the multitude of my thoughts within 
me, thy comforts delight my soul.' Thy comforts — 
comforts that come from God, which lead to him and 
are fully to be enjoyed in him. The light of thy 
countenance, the sense of the pardon of my sins, an 
interest in the promises of the covenant of grace, a 
conquest of self-will, and consequently of every other 
enemy, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost, the hope and prospect of eternal life near, and 
not the less pleasant on that account ; these are con- 
solations indeed that are not small." There are two 
things also said of those divine comforts, that give 
them infinite advantage above all other : they are 
strong, and they are full. " They are strong conso- 
lations." Heb. 6:18. Others are too weak to bear 
much weight : a soul, in all its heaviness, finds they 
are not affliction-proof ; they cannot stand under the 
troubles of life, much less will they against the 
terrors of death and judgment. But the comforts 
that are truly Christian, will bear a man up when 
every thing else fails about him, the world is sinking 
under him, and all is going. The other thing said of 
these divine consolations is, that they are full: as 
Christ saith to his disciples, "Let not your hearts be 
troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me 



278 



INTRODUCTION. 



These things have I spoken unto you, that your Joy 
might be full." 

To have a Grod to apply to, who is the Father of 
mercies, and the Grod of all consolations — the Grod 
that comforteth them who are cast down ; to have an 
interest in Christ, by whom we have access unto the 
Father, whose grace is sufficient for us in every time 
of need ; to have the Spirit, the Comforter by office, 
to do his office to us, and diffuse that joy and peace 
in believing, which are part of the kingdom of God 
and the fruits of the Spirit ; to have the holy Scrip- 
tures to go to, that were written on purpose that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might 
have hope : these are, in comparison to all other com- 
forts, as the fountain of living waters to the broken 
cisterns that can riold no water. 

Prayer gives ease to the mind ; revives faith, hope, 
and patience ; promotes holiness, as well as fetches 
down comfort. It is, in short, the true way of hand- 
ling our weajpons against our spiritual adversaries . 
" Put on the whole armor of Grod ;" " praying with 
all prayer." This is the true way of applying our 
spiritual remedy : "Is any afflicted? let him pray." 

Besides the mourner for departed friends, the 
afflicted on other accounts will here find some relief 
under their troubles of life. The nature of submis- 
sion, and the arguments and motives of acquiescence^ 
do very much agree to both. They have such an 
affinity, that one can hardly be treated of without 
touching upon the other ; as, in laying down the map 



INTE.ODUCT "ON. 



279 



uf any kingdom, some borders of neighboring nations 
will appear. They are but different ingredients of 
the same bitter cup, put into the hands of mortal 
men. 

He usually behaves best who is best prepared, 
who has not his weapons to seek when they are to be 
used, nor his armor to be put on when the attack is 
begun. It is observed, that none are more confounded 
when calamity comes, than those who are most care- 
less to prevent it. Principles must be fixed before 
they can be used, and frequently practice must settle 
habits, before we can enjoy the benefit of that ease 
with which they exert themselves. Of all people 
they suffer most who will not allow you to mention 
beforehand the death of a beloved object, nor them- 
selves to think of any such thing — "Do not speak of 
it ; I cannot bear the thoughts of it : to be sure, I 
shall run distracted." And so, partly for quietness' 
sake, and partly from complaisance, not a word is 
said of the matter : the dear thing is clapped to the 
heart ; it clings, and grows to the affections ; and 
when it is snatched away, no wonder if the parents 
grieve and lament. They seem to have had no notion 
of their dear creature's being mortal ; it oversets 
them at once, because they have no consideration 
about them to hinder its doing so, nothing that can 
weaken the influence of their vexation. Whereas he 
is a wise man indeed, who prepares both for his own 
death and the death of his friends ; who so improves 
his foresight of troubles, as to abate the uneasiness 



2S0 



INTRODUCTION. 



of them, and puts in practice that philosophical res- 
olution I have read of, with which I conclude this 
address : " I am thinking with myself every day, how 
many things are dear to me ; and after I have con- 
sidered them as temporary and perishing, I prepare 
myself from that minute to bear the loss of them 
without weakness." 



THE MOURNER. 



SECTION I. 

ALLOWANCES MADE TO THE MOURNER, AND WHICH WILL 
BE MADE BOTH BY GOD AND MAN. 

Some allowances will surely be made for cur natural 
aversion to troubles, by Him who knows our frame. "No 
affliction for trie present seemeth joyous, but grievous;" it is 
well if afterwards it produces "the peaceable fruit of right- 
eousness." The man must feel: the Christian will submit. 
The grace that exalts us to the dignity of being the children 
of God, does not lift us entirely above the affections and 
passions which are common to men : but what is better, it 
governs them by its laws, and uses them to its own purposes ; 
and does not eradicate, but perfect our nature. 

There is a great difference in the constitutions of men. 
That which melts down one person, will hardly warm an- 
other. "When there is a predominance of the softer passions, 
every tender emotion moves within them ; and, like the sen- 
sitive plant, they shrink in and are affected by the smallest 
touch. 

Suppose yourself under the first stroke of an evil; the 
sudden news of such a loss may be too hard even for a man 
that has a good command of himself. He must recover 
himself; he must rally the forces of reason and religion : 
when the shock is over, he will better perceive it might 
have been more decently borne. 

It is no crime to be sensible of the greatness of our loss, 
nor to feeWhe pain of it. Insensibility is no virtue, has no 



282 



THE MOURNER. 



glory in it, will have no reward. The great Abraham 
"came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep," Gen. 23:2, 
without any diminution to his great character. Jesus him- 
self wept over Lazarus; which he would not have done, 
had there been any thing unseemly in dropping a tear over 
a departed friend. "Devout men carried Stephen to his 
funeral, and made great lamentation;" and yet they were 
devout men. " Human nature," says Dr. Bates, "is framed 
with such senses and passions as, according to God's inten- 
tions, will be affected suitably to their objects ; and if the 
soul acts rationally, it is moved accordingly. And if we 
consider the end for which afflictions are sent, namely, for 
our amendment, it will appear necessary that they should 
be felt ; for if we have no sense of the blow, how shall we 
submit to the hand that gives it? If our affections are 
seared against all painful impressions, God is then defeated 
in the best means of our awakening; for he that is not 
sensible of his affliction, will continue secure in his sin." 

There are two extremes ever to be avoided under troubles : 
the one is slighting the affliction, as if we scorned to feel it, 
like a mere accident, not to be regarded ; the other is sink- 
ing under it, as if we had no help to go to, but would fling 
up all in sullen despair, instead of endeavoring to attain 
the end God himself aims at in the dispensation. Both 
these extremes are cautioned against: "My son, despise not 
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art re- 
buked of him." Heb. 12 :5. If you despise the chastening, 
you may provoke him to say, "I will make you feel before 
I have done with you ;" and so draw upon you more strokes, 
as they did of whom it was written, "Thou hast stricken 
them, but they have not grieved ; thou hast consumed them, 
but they have refused to receive correction : they have made 
their faces harder than a rock ; they have refused to return." 
Jer. 5:3. And what followed this affected insensibility, in 
which they hardened themselves against God an4 his provi 



ALLOWANCES TO GRIEF. 



283 



dence? They made matters ten times worse, and suffered 
many evils instead of one. "Wherefore a lion out of the 
forest shall slay them" — some fierce and cruel enemy; "a 
wolf of the evenings shall spoil them" — some greedy and 
devouring enemy ; " a leopard shall watch over their cities, 
every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces" — • 
some watchful, cunning adversary ; " because their trans- 
gressions are many, and their backslidings are increased." 
Jer. 5 : 6. 

How much better is it for me to say with the church, 
" ' I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have 
sinned against him :' I will bear it as well as I can, and 
will endeavor to bear it as well as I ought. 'My wound is 
grievous ; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear 
it.'" Jer. 10:19. 

The particular circumstances of trouble in my case are 
all under his compassionate eye. The degrees of bitterness 
in my cup, with every ingredient, were of his own mixing : 
it is the " cup which my Father gives me to drink." He will 
allow the degree of sorrow to be in proportion to the degrees 
of affliction. That degree of sorrow may be a sin in one 
affliction, which is but decent in another. The blossom soon 
withers, and the flower fades — the fair blossom, the beautiful 
flower; but "all flesh is grass." One channel of my pleas- 
ure is dried up ; it is but one channel ; or if more, the foun- 
tain is still open and can never run dry. I may mourn the 
loss of what was so necessary to me, with a degree of sorrow 
beyond what is due only to a convenience of life. The loss 
of one upon whom our all depends, not only the comfort and 
delights, but the very support and livelihood of a family; 
how deep must that wound be. And who can forbid it to 
bleed, where extremities to be suffered come in the room of 
endearment and delight enjoyed? Job lost his children, his 
estate, his health, his peace ; heavy as the sand of the sea 
was his grief: but here comes a mourner, and says, I ho^e 



284 



THE MOURNER. 



lost all this in one person: "I was at ease, but thou hast 
broken me to pieces." A widow and fatherless children ; a 
poor widow and fatherless : sick, as well as poor ; deserted 
by friends, persecuted by enemies ; how many degrees of an 
guish are here beyond the sorrow only of being a widow 
How allowable for such a one to say — and such a one there 
has been — "Even to day is my complaint bitter; my stroke 
is heavier than my groaning." Job 23 : 2. 

Grief must have a vent ; sorrow may express itself. I 
may sigh and weep, and tell my mournful story to God and 
man: "In all this Job sinned not. As for me, is my com- 
plaint to men? And if it were so, why should not my spirit 
be troubled?" Job 21 : 4. It is in vain to complain to 
men. I will turn my complaint to God ; he will allow me 
to complain to him, though I must not complain of him. " I 
cried unto the Lord with my voice, and made supplication. 
I poured out my complaint before him ; I showed before him 
my trouble." Psalm 142 : 1, 2. There is a psalm on pur- 
pose for the afflicted, with this title, " A prayer of the afflicted 
when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint be- 
fore the Lord." Psalm 102. When a man is so afflicted as 
to be overwhelmed with it, he may complain ; he may com- 
plain even "before the Lord;" nay, he may pour out his 
complaint. Another while he says, "I am so troubled I 
cannot speak." Anguish in extremity will sometimes strike 
dumb, and at another time pour out complaints. My sor- 
rows are great, because my loss is so. Thou knowest, 0 
Lord, more than myself, how bitter in many respects this is 
likely to prove. What a gap is made in the comfort of my 
life. What troubles are like to come in at this breach like 
a flood. Whither should I carry my sorrows and cares but 
to thee, who carest for me? My friends are quickly weary 
of my complaints : it is burdensome to them, though it re- 
lieves me. Thou art the Father of compassion : all weeping 
eyes lift up themselves to thee, and every sighing prayei 



ALLOWANCES TO G-RIE F. 



285 



from the ends of the earth. "Hear my prayer, 0 Lord; 
and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face ; incline 
thine ear. My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so 
that I forget to eat my bread;" or I mingle it with ashes, 
^ the bread of affliction, and the water of affliction. My 
courage fails ; my spirits are wasted by the greatness of my 
sorrow: "By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones 
cleave to my skin; I am like a pelican of the wilderness," a 
lonely, solitary creature. "I watch, and am as a sparrow 
alone upon the housetop :" I decline society by day, and am 
deprived of sleep by night. " I have eaten ashes like bread, 
and mingled my drink with weeping, because of thine in- 
dignation and thy wrath; for thou hast lifted me up, and 
cast me down." Psalm 102 : 1-10. Heal the wound which 
thou hast made. Surely there is balm in Gilead, and a 
Physician there. Assuage my grief by thy consolations, 
which are not small. Relieve my loneliness, by a great 
deal of thy sensible presence. Give me so much more of 
thy company, that I may find I am "not alone, because the 
Father is with me." My light is gone out in darkness; let 
the Sun of righteousness arise upon me, with healing under 
his wings. Retrieve the damage and loss as far as may be, 
by the methods of thy providence. "I am oppressed: un- 
dertake for me." 

I may open my sorrows to men too, if I can get any who 
will bestow the charity of hearing my story. It will ease 
the mind ; it will draw forth something of relief from our 
thoughts ; it will direct and engage their prayers ; it will 
extort some pity, and it is something to be pitied in afflic- 
tion. Job missed of this, when he had reason to expect it. 
" He hath put my brethren far from me ; and mine acquaint- 
ance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have 
failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. I called 
ray servant, and he gave me no answer : I entreated him 
with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife :" she 



286 



THE MOURNER. 



turned away from me. And all refuse the kind office to a 
poor afflicted man when he most needs it. " All my inward 
friends abhorred me ; and they whom I loved are turned 
against me. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, 0 ye, 
my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." " To 
the afflicted, pity should be shown." 

The most earnest prayer to God for the removal of an 
affliction, or support under it, is very consistent with entire 
submission to the will of God, and is allowed to the mourner. 
Nothing could be more submissive in a mere man than that 
of David : " I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because 
thou didst it." Dumb to all murmuring language, but not 
to prayer, for the very next words are, " Remove thy stroke 
away from me : I am consumed by the blow of thy hand." 
Psa. 39 : 9, 10. But a greater than David is here. The 
Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect pattern of patience, and 
yet none ever prayed more earnestly than he that the cup 
might pass from him, and " being in an agony, he prayed 
more earnestly." Luke 22 : 44. " With strong cries and 
tears," when in the days of his flesh, he spoke the language 
of flesh and blood. He prayed earnestly — with strong cries 
and groans ; importunately — for he prayed three times, as St. 
Paul besought the Lord thrice ; and with great humility — 
prostrate upon the ground. And yet his earnestness, impor- 
tunity, and humility, were all consistent with submission : 
" Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Behold 
the desires of nature and the resignation of grace ! Na- 
ture says, "Let this cup pass;" grace says, "Let thy will 
be done." It is no rebellion against the will of God to 
desire that an evil may be removed ; but only when we 
as it were insist upon its being removed, whether God will 
or no ; that is, when we rage and storm if we have not our 
will, or take sinful courses to obtain it. 

I am allowed the diligent use of all proper means, all 
lawful and appointed means of removing affliction. If I 



IMMODERATE GRIEF. 



287 



cannot prevent it, I will remove it ; if I cannot remove it, 
I will bear it ; if I cannot bear it, my next concern is, that 
sinking under it may be rather my calamity than my crime, 
and only prove the occasion of a fresh act of resignation to 
the method he chooses hereby of delivering me from all evil. 



SECTION II. 

CASES IN WHICH OUR MOURNING MAY -BE ESTEEMED 
EXCESSIVE AND IMMODERATE. 

When the loss of jome one mercy shall destroy the sense 
and relish of those that remain, is not that excessive ? Let 
him take all, says passion, since he has deprived me of this. 
But what if God should take us at our word ? How much 
more miserable should we be, than it is possible for any one 
loss to make us. Are all the mercies that remain worth 
nothing, because this one is taken away ? 

The comfort of other relations, the accommodations of 
life, health of body, the capacities of the mind, a share in 
the pleasure of angels, in contemplation of delightful truths 
and sense of the divine favor, the means of grace, an inter- 
est in Christ, the pardon of sin, and the hope of glory ; must 
all these things be as nothing because the child is dead, or 
the husband or the wife is gone before ? Is not this enough 
to provoke God to go on, and make a full end of all ? and 
to say in his wrath, " Since these things are not worth own- 
ing, they are not worth continuing ; I will take them away. 
Go, death, and take the husband that is left, or cut off that 
wife, or child, or friend. Go, sickness, and smite the body 
with disease and languishing weakness : take away the 
health that is left, since it is esteemed as nothing now Go, 
reproach and calumny, and blast the leputation. Losses 
and crosses, take a full commission to make what ravages' 
you please in an estate that cannot now be enjoyed." 



288 



THE MOURNER. 



Mourner. Ah, but the flower of all my comfort is 
gone. " The glory is departed." 

I answer, thy glory is to do the will of God, and bear the 
burden he lays upon thee. This secures eternal glory. Be 
thankful you are out of hell. All is mercy on this side hell. 
And if he has added to that many other mercies that are 
spared to thee, though often forfeited, as well as that which 
is gone, let the enjoyment of that remainder be an allay of 
grief and a comfortable motive to thankfulness. 

"When we are so taken up with our own sorrows as to 
regard nobody's else, our grief is excessive. "When all our 
concern for the sorrows and joys of others, and especially of 
the church of God, is entirely swallowed up in our private 
grief, this is to be too much shut up within our ownselves, 
and confined within the little circle of our own affairs. If a 
piece of good public news will not make a mourner smile ; 
if a national deliverance will not make him forget to weep, 
at least for some time, it is a sign of none of the best spirit. 
The public may justly leave him to his own bitterness. 
Eli's family afflictions were great, but the public loss broke 
his heart. 

When our sorrows utterly unfit us for the duties of 
religion and the services of life, for any considerable time, 
then they are excessive. You were overset at first. The 
storm came down upon you unprepared ; but do not make 
it your choice to be overwhelmed. God hath taken away 
that person, and you will not pray. Why, is there nothing 
now worth asking for ? Will God supply you with breath 
for nothing but sighs and groans ? If this blow will not 
bring you upon your knees, he can strike another. It is 
desperate language to say, " Let him strike ; there is nothing 
now wherein he can hurt me." God expects to hear from 
you another way : " If any be afflicted, let him pray." God 
knows how it eases the mind, and brings in help. You 
cannot meditate, but you can sit alone for hours together 



IMMODERATE G-RIEF. 



289 



thinking upon a dead creature. Methinks the living saint 
in heaven should have a little of our heart. Our heart 
should not always dwell in a coffin and in a grave. Me- 
thinks the ever-living God is the more seasonable object to 
turn the mind to. The dear one is dead, but " the Lord 
jveth, and blessed be my Rock." Psa. 18 : 46. 

Mourner. I can think of nothing else. 

Answer. There lies the excess of your grief; but is that 
the way to comfort, to turn your back upon the Father of 
mercies and the God of all consolation ? You will not meet 
him in the closet, or in the sanctuary, because such a one is 
dead; that is, you will not have to do with God because 
you are in a condition wherein you most need his assistance. 
God requires nothing of you impossible or improper ; only 
let it be seen that the dead creature was not your God, but 
He that liveth for ever and ever. 

When our sorrows make us heedless of the design of 
God in our affliction, and of the lessons we should learn 
from his providence, then are they immoderate. " My soul 
is weary of my life," says Job, chap. 10:1; and yet, in his 
anguish, he is inquiring into the cause and design of his 
troubles : " I will say unto God, do not condemn me ; 
show me wherefore thou contendest with me." Yer. 2. To 
be condemned of God was what he feared more than any 
affliction, for that indeed would be a much more dreadful 
thing. The way to avoid that condemnation is, to find out 
what God contends with us for ; to remove it by repentance ; 
then it will be pardoned by his grace. 

When we refuse to be comforted, it shows that our griel 
is swelling beyond its boundary, and ready to overflow all. 
Thus Jacob, when he thought his son Joseph was dead, rent 
his clothes and refused to be comforted. Gen. 37 : 34, 35. 
And so did another mourner we read of: " Lamentation and 
bitter weeping ; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to 
be comforted for her children, because they were not." Jer. 

Affl. Man's Comp. 13 



290 



THE MOURNER. 



31:15. If Rachel will refuse comfort from the word o* 
God and the suggestions of friends, she must go without it : 
she must mourn on, and weep on. To want comfort is ar 
affliction; but to refuse it when offered, is a sin. A time 
may come wherein you would be glad to have it if you 
could, or if there were any to administer it. The anguish 
of spirit may be too great to admit it presently. David was 
so troubled, he could not speak ; and the Israelites in Egypt 
were in such anguish, they could not hear the comfortable 
overtures of Moses. "Moses spake so unto the children of 
Israel, but they hearkened not unto him, for anguish of spirit 
and for cruel bondage." Exod. 6 : 9. But to refuse com 
fort on purpose that grief may swell to the greater height ; 
to feed your passion with fresh fuel, and stir it up with aggra- 
vating thoughts; this is not the way to have your sorrows 
easy or innocent. 

"When nature, grace, and time shall have done their part 
towards the settlement of minds under affliction, and they 
have got over it pretty well, so that the wound seems to bo 
closed, they will tear it open again and make it bleed afresh, 
by the help of certain mementos, that seem to be kept on 
purpose for that cruel service : a lock of hair, a picture, a 
relic of wearing apparel, or such like memorandum. 

. Mourner. Must we then forget our relations as soon as 
they are gone ? Do you think I shall ever forget that dear 
creature ? 

Answer. But cannot we remember them without for- 
getting God and ourselves, and scandalizing our religion ? If 
we loved them so well, is there any danger of forgetting thern 
too soon, that we should need art and monitors ? Remem- 
ber what was good, to imitate it — what was lovely, to be 
thankful for it. But as for these provocatives of sorroWj if 
I cannot view them with patience and moderation, I am not 
to be trusted with them. Rachel would have had her son's 
name Benoni, a son of sorrow : Jacob knew that would have 



IMMODERATE ttHIEF. 



291 



been- a perpetual reminding him of the sorrowful occasion 
of his name, the loss of his beloved Rachel. He therefore 
calls him Benjamin, a son of the right hand. In such a 
world as this, the sorrow we cannot avoid is enough, if it be 
well improved. 

When sorrow is suffered to prey upon health, in its de- 
grees or in its continuance, it is as criminal as mischievous. 
A man may pine away his health and life, as well as drink 
them away, or destroy them by any other extravagance. It 
wears away the strength, and wastes the vital spirits. Jacob 
said, that sorrow would "bring down his grey hairs to the 
grave." We know, by too many instances, that sorrow and 
trouble will not only bring grey hairs to the grave, but dark 
ones too. "A broken spirit dries the bones." Prov. 17 : 22. 
It wastes and consumes ; so as to prove the truth of the text, 
"The sorrow of the world worketh death." 2 Cor. 7 : 10. 

Sometimes it kills outright, as effectually as if a man 
were shot through. Sometimes more gradually indeed ; but 
it then does its business as surely as a slow poison ; for the 
food seldom nourishes that is mingled with tears. When the 
air doth not refresh, nor the faculties of nature perform their 
functions, then we say the heart is broken. And this is the 
language of antiquity, as well as among us. Witness the 
royal philosopher : " By sorrow ©f heart the spirit is broken." 
Prov. 15 : 13. In the bills of mortality, we sometimes find 
this article, "Died .of grief." That article would be much 
larger, and oftener inserted, if all who died of grief w r ere to 
be distinguished ; but they are put down under the word con- 
sumption, or other disease which grief brought upon them. 

When our spirits are soured, and disgusted against every 
thing ; when our passions are raised against men, and wo 
murmur against God ; when we give way to hard thoughts 
or language of God, because "the Almighty hath dealt very 
bitterly" with us, Ruth 1 : 20, then our sorrows have greatfy 
exceeded their bounds. 



202 



THE MOURNER. 



A heart without grace will bound and swell, . and rise 
as if it would fly in the face of God, upon the loss of some 
beloved and dear delight ; and a heart with grace can 
hardly avoid something like it. An afflicted person is so 
apt to speak unadvisedly with his lips, that Satan took it 
for granted that even such a good man as Job might be 
provoked to so extravagant a thing as to curse God to his 
face ; or at least he knew that he should take the most 
likely way to provoke him to it. 

It was David the mourner that said in his haste, " I am 
cut off from before thine eyes ; verily, I have cleansed my 
hands in vain." 

It was Jeremiah the mourner who uttered those de- 
sponding words: "My strength and hope are perished from 
the Lord. I remember mine affliction and my misery, the 
wormwood and the gall." It was Jonah, in his affliction, 
made that fretful repartee, when the Lord said. "Doest thou 
well to be angry ? And Jonah said, I do well to be angry, 
even to death;" if I fret myself to death, is there not a 
cause ? Or, I will indulge my grief and vexation, though 
it cost my life. Surely this is the language of passion — 
surely this is to go beyond the allowed bounds. 

We may exceed in the continuance of our grief. It may 
continue too long, as well as rise too high. The time for 
mourning has been limited by all wise nations; and the 
wisest people have made it the shortest The Egyptians, 
who knew not God, mourned seventy days for old Israel; 
and his own son Joseph made a mourning for his father 
but forty-seven days. Gen. 1:3, 11. For Aaron, Israel 
mourned thirty days ; for Moses, thirty, and for Saul, seven. 
But it is one thing how long the ceremony of mourning may 
continue, and another thing how long the sorrow may en- 
dure. The ceremony may be over when the grief has no 
end but with the mourner's life, and he carries it with him 
to the grave. 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 



293 



SECTION III. 

SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF OOD, AND RESIGNATION TO 
HIS PROVIDENCE, WITH RESPECT TO OUR THOUGHTS 

Shall I admit a thought reflecting upon God and his 
conduct ? Shall my ignorance impeach God's knowledge ? 
I do not see the wisdom or the goodness of this providence. 
No more did Jacob see either wisdom or goodness in his loss 
of Joseph. "All these things are against me," says he: 
and yet God meant it for good. Gen. 50 : 20. 

All these things are ordered by God. My present con 
dition is his appointment. "Afflictions rise not out of the 
dust," though they sometimes hasten us thither; but "out 
of the mouth of the Lord cometh not good and evil?" Lam. 
3 :38. The origin of all evil is sin, and the direction of it 
all is in the hand of God. " I form the light " of prosperity ; 
"I create darkness" of affliction; "I make peace, and I 
create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Isa. 45:7. 
We are apt to dwell upon second causes, and overlook the 
hand of God, who, though he cannot be the author of sin, 
can overrule the sins of others to be a correction of our own 
iniquity. 

Shimei's ill-nature and mortal enmity to the house of 
David made him curse David ; but David plainly discerned 
there was something more than Shimei's ill-nature, or attach- 
ment to the house of Saul, when he said, "The Lord hath 
bid Shimei curse David." The Jews by wicked hands cru- 
cified Christ, who yet said, " The cup which my Father hath 
given me, shall I not drink it?" As in a medicinal prescrip- 
tion, whatever the ingredients may owe their bitterness to, it 
is the skill and kindness of the physician that makes it up. 

Since these things are ordered by God, they must needs 
have an end worthy of God to propose and me to attend to. 
None of his arrows are drawn at a venture. He always 



294 



THE MOURNER. 



aims at something which it is worth my while to aim at 
too. " We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected 
us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather 
be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live*? For 
they verily for a few days chastened us after their own 
pleasure ; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers 
of his holiness," Heb. 12:9, 10 ; to make us humble and 
holy, to improve the graces of his Spirit in us, to purge out 
our corruptions, and to mortify more the body of sin ; to 
wean us from this world, that we may love it less "and 
leave it with more ease ; to prepare us for another world, 
and dispose us more to go thither. 

This is the voice of the rod ; these the ends of Him who 
hath appointed it. And when these ends are attained, some- 
thing more considerable is gained than what you have lost. 

Mourner. It is hard for me to think so when under the 
pangs of sorrow. It enters deep, and wounds me sore. How 
can I ever say with David, " All the paths of the Lord are 
mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and tes- 
timony?" What, all the paths of the Lord: the rough 
and the thorny, and the difficult ; where there seems to be 
nothing but severity ? Friends and dear relations dead ; 
estate sunk ; health impaired ; strength decaying ; difficul- 
ties increasing on every side : Oh, he has touched me in a 
tender part. It is the apple of mine eye that the thorn is 
gone into. What have the promises produced to me ? 
Might he not have taken a method that should have looked 
more like <; mercy and truth ?" 

Answer. Can infinite wisdom be mistaken ? Can infinite 
goodness be cruel ? Can infinite truth be false ? Allow Him 
that knows the end from the beginning, to know better what 
is good for you than you do for yourself; and to know how 
to come to his end the best way. Since " he doth not 
afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men;" and since 
it is only " if need be" that we are in heaviness, what is it 



SUBMISSION TO OOD. 



295 



but " mercy and truth" that can make him do a thing 
unwillingly, and do it only " if need be ?" Would it be 
mercy or truth to humor you in omitting what must needs 
be ? You will allow him to judge of the necessity of it too, 
for the same reason ; and then you will see reason to con- 
clude with the royal mourner, " I know, 0 Lord, that thy 
judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast 
afflicted me." Psa. 119 : 75. Especially when you con- 
sider, in the next place, 

That he will make this, and all other trials, ivork to- 
gether for good. This is the general promise : " We know 
that all things work together for good to them that love 
God." Rom. 8 : 28. We know it is so in fact, but we 
know not how. Indeed, that knowledge is no business of 
ours ; that part we leave to God. To believe the truth of 
it, to take the comfort of it, and to wait the issue of it — that 
is our part. Look upon every trouble through the Scrip- 
ture ; let God take what compass he please, it will come to 
this at last. How contrary soever to my liking things are at 
present, they will at length be just as I would have them. 
Only let me remember three or four things : 

1 . Let me take care to be a qualified object of this promise. 
It is " to them that love God," to them that are the " called" 
or converted " according to his purpose," thai this - promise 
is made, that " all things shall work together for good." 

2. Let me take care to be right in my notion of good. 
If I have no notion of good but what relates to the body, to 
the mouth, or the pocket, to eating and drinking, and other 
outward enjoyments, I may never think this promise ful- 
filled. But if I think that to be good which is good for the 
soul, and that to be good which is good for eternity, the 
promise is as sure as it is rich, gracious, and comprehensive ; 
and when the good things of this life are really good for us, 
they are certainly included in the promise, and may be ex- 
pected from it. 



2 ( J6 



THE MOURNER. 



3. "Whether outward enjoyments are good for us or no, 
we must leave Him to judge who made the promise ; and 
there is all the reason in the world he should whose good- 
ness made it, whose wisdom and power must make it good. 
They who are the objects of this promise, who love God, 
will let him judge for them in this case. What a soul must 
that be which can say, " I will have the outward enjoy- 
ments of this life, whether they be good for me or not ; and 
whether God judge them good for me or riot." Does this 
look like one who is the object of that promise — one who 
loves God, and is " called according to his purpose ?" 

4. We must wait God's time, and expect the accom- 
plishment of this promise only in his way. He that believes 
makes not haste, nor says, by impatience, " Why should we 
wait on the Lord any longer?" Nor must we attempt to 
hasten the fulfilment by taking unlawful ways, lest we for- 
feit our share in this promise by any such misbehavior. 

To quarrel with providence is to charge God foolishly. 
It is as much as to say, that God governs the rest of the 
world well enough, but not in this particular. " He orders 
all affairs well but mine." When others die, and other hus- 
bands mourn the beloved, the suitable, and the amiable 
creature gone, or when other widows weep in secret and 
are left alone, #ien the lesson is, all must die ; and submis- 
sion was preached up as wisdom, our best wisdom, as wel] 
as duty. " Behold, thou hast instructed many, but now it is 
come upon thee, and thou faintest ; it toucheth thee, and 
thou art troubled," Job 4 : 3, 5 ; it touches thee to the 
quick ; and you find the lesson you taught to others not so 
easy to learn yourself. 

Shall not the commander of an army be allowed to place 
his men according as he knows to be best for the service,, 
whether the common soldier knows it or not? He assigns 
their post ; he draws them out, and gives command. They 
form themselves in the face of danger — they march to the 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 



297 



mouth of a cannon, or mount a breach, though ever so 
dreadful — and all for bread and clothes ! — a submission 
with which we hardly honor the Captain of our salvation 
though it be for eternal life. % 



SECTION IY. 

OF SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD, AS IT REGARDS THE 
FRAME OF OUR SPIRIT AND TEMPER OF OUR MINDS. 

I hope I have learned something of this submission, since 
I am come to-the following resolves, in which, I apprehend, 
it does in a great measure consist. 

Resolved and agreed, that God's will ought to deter- 
mine mine, and not mine pretend to determine the will of 
God. The question is put, ""Whose will shall be done?" 
That petition in the Load's prayer was made for this very 
case and season : " Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven." I should be ashamed to say otherwise ; but ac- 
tions have a language as well as words. I should have 
been ashamed to say, in words at length, " Lord, my will 
shall determine and govern thine. I will have no will 
superior to my own ;" but my actions have said as much, 
when, by my murmurs, rebellious thoughts, sinful courses, 
and desperate uneasiness, I have behaved so contrary to the 
duty of a subject and the relation of a child. Lord, forgive 
what is past. And now, behold, here I am. Let the Lord 
do to me what seemeth good unto him. " Father, not as I 
will, but as thou wilt." Luke 22 : 42. 

Again, resolved and agreed, that it is part of my busi- 
ness in this world, to endure what I cannot innocently 
avoid. What can be avoided we may and ought to avoid, 
since " no affliction for the present is joyous, but grievous 
but what cannot, be avoided by lawful means has the mark 
of being the will of God, and that I should endure. " No 
13* 



298 



THE MOURNER. 



man should be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves 
know that we are appointed thereunto." 1 Thess. 3 : 3 
How do I know what I am appointed to, but by being 
unable to avoid it without sin, which is a worse evil than 
suffering, and comes in the room of a great excellence, 
namely, a submissive spirit ? 

Farther, resolved and agreed, that I will neither despise 
the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when I am rebuked, 
Heb. 12 : 5. To prevent which, I fly to the assistance of 
his grace. I consider that it is one evidence of true grace to 
be willing to bear the will of God, as well as to do it. I 
call to mind the promises in this behalf made. and provided. 
I look to the recompense of reward ; and I " endure as see- 
ing him that is invisible." I look to that particular bless- 
ing promised to him that endures in a right manner : "Bless- 
ed is the man who endureth temptation ; for when he is 
tried, he shall receive the crown of l^e." James 1:12. " For 
which cause we faint not ; but though our outward man 
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." 2 Cor. 
4:16. 

Moreover, resolved and agreed, that I humble myself un- 
der the mighty hand of God. "I am vile ; what shall I 
answer thee ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once 
have I spoken, but I will not answer ; yea, twice, but I will 
proceed no further." Job 40 :4, 5. That is to say, I have 
not a word more to say ; neither against thee, nor for my- 
self. I have said too much already, and spoken too unad- 
visedly with my lips, in defending myself and arraigning thy 
providence; I will proceed no further in such challenges. 
Forgive what is past, and assist me for the time to come. 
God delights to humble those who will not humble them- 
selves, and to exalt those that do. " Humble yourselves, 
therefore, under the mighty hand of God ; that he may exalt 
you in due time." 1 Pet. 5 : 6. 

Mourner. My sorrows are great, but so is my guilt 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 



299 



Things are very bad with me, but they might have been 
worse : and they will be better, if I can behave so well un- 
der this trouble as to gain his pity and his favor. He hag 
taken away, but he first gave. 

God takes great notice of such a frame of spirit, and has 
a thousand ways to reward it. " Because thy heart was 
tender, and thou hast humbled thyself, thine eyes shall not 
see all the evil which I will bring upon this place." 2 Kings, 
22 : 19, 20. Heaven will make amends for all sorrows and 
sufferings. Submission is the way to heaven ; and these 
considerations are the way to submission. 



SECTION V. 

OF SUBMISSION, AS IT RESPECTS OUR BEHAVIOR AND 
CARRIAGE. 

Giiief is sometimes outrageous, and sometimes sullen. 
It will often say any thing that comes next, without grace 
or decency, as well as sometimes say nothing at all. Job 
sat seven days and seven nights silent, " and none spake a 
word to him, for they saw that his grief was great;" and 
when he did speak, he cursed the day of his birth. David 
acted a better part, when he got up, anointed, washed, and 
ate, after the death of his child. There is a way of saying 
" Thy will be done" by the behavior or gesture — with the 
eyes and hands, as well as with the tongue. Submission is 
a grace that reaches to the behavior, the features, and the 
outward postures of body. The natural postures of grief 
have no offence in them ; but there are unnatural distortions 
of rage and despair. I have seen some lift up their eyes 
and hands to heaven as if they threatened, rather than sup - 
plicated the Almighty ; and heard them say such words as 
only served to provoke their own sorrow, and God's anger. 
. How much better it is to cast our present burden and 



300 



THE MOURNER. 



future cares upon God, in a believing dependence upon his 
promises and goodness. Treasure them up in your mind, 
for a sure recourse upon those trials you are most liable to. 
"Lay up his words in thy heart." Job 22:22. "Thy 
word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against 
thee." Let the widow and the fatherless remember, that 
he has promised to be a " Father to the fatherless, and a 
judge of the widow." Psa. 68 : 5. " In thee the fatherless 
find mercy." Hosea 14:3. "The Lord preserveth the 
strangers ; he relieveth the fatherless and widow ; but the 
way of the wicked he turneth upside down." Psa. 146 : 9. 
" Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive ; 
and let thy widows trust in me." Jer. 49 : 11. Let the 
childless remember what God says, that if such do " choose 
the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant, 
even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls, 
a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters ; I 
will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut 
off." Isa. 56 : 4, 5. Let the friendless and helpless remem- 
ber, that God has promised to " deliver the needy when he 
crieth : the poor also, and him that hath no helper." Psa. 
72 : 12. When lover and friend, " when father and mother 
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Psa. 27 : 10. 
Lord, remember these words, wherein thou hast caused me 
to hope. Promises were made on purpose for God to fulfil, 
and for us to trust in ; and he that by faith humbly depends 
upon them, takes the best way to have these, or some others, 
fulfilled to his seasonable comfort and relief. " Be careful 
for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication 
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto 
God." Phil. 4:6. Doth not prayer and supplication signify 
a carefulness for something, namely, that which I pray and 
supplicate for ? Doubtless, a care of the right sort, a care 
of the means, which is our part— such as prayer, supplica- 
tion, and diligence ; and which discharges us from the bur 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 



301 



densorae care of the end, which is God's part. It eases us 
from all distracting care about the issue. It relieves our 
anxiety for God's part, and our own also ; for it is too much 
for any man alive to have two such cares upon him at once, 
the care of the means, with their diligent use, and the care 
of the end also : that is, to have God's care upon us and our 
own too. One of these cares must be left to God. To cast 
upon God the care of the means, and to say, I will not pray, 
I will not use my endeavors, is carelessness and presump- 
tion ; neither of which are Christian graces. To take upon 
us the care of the issue and the event, is distracting anxiety, 
and is the carefulness here forbidden as invading God's prov- 
ince. Duty is mine ; so far as that, I am to care about the 
end. The event is God's ; and that not being in my power, 
is no object of my care, though it be of concern and expecta- 
tion. It seems equally criminal and foolish to neglect out 
■ own power, or to invade God's. 

Mourner,. What if there be no means ? I see no way. 
Answer. Then we must "stand still, and see the salva- 
tion of God." 

Mourner. What if there be no salvation ? 
Answer. Why, then, " though he slay me, yet will I 
trust in him." Job 13 : 15. "I am not better than my 
fathers ; let me die." When it is come to that, we must dc 
as they did in Acts 21 : 14 : " When he would not be per- 
suaded, we ceased, saying, the will of the Lord be done.'' 
Good men have perished indeed from the earth, but it is 
only from the earth. They die from hence into immortality. 
They are gone, but not lost. Some salvation will always 
be ready to crown their faith and patience, and expose the 
angry impropriety of your question, What if there be no sal- 
vation ? Good men may be afflicted, but cannot be misera- 
ble. If Dives shuts his door against Lazarus, Abraham's 
bosom is open, " Say unto the righteous, it shall be well 
with him," in this or the other Avorld, or in both. 




302 THE MOURNER. 

Let ns suit ourselves to our condition. Let our minds 
agree with our station ; our appetites and desires to our cir- 
cumstances. This is another part of our submission as to our 
behavior. The blow that we feel should kill curiosity, vanity, 
lust, and pride. If we will never possess our souls in patience 
but when they are humored, they will sooner be undone than 
satisfied.- He who enlarges his desires, makes the duty of sub- 
mission so much the more difficult ; for he has so many more 
cravings to provide for, and to be disappointed in. 

Nor should we aim only at the decency of a mere pa- 
tient behavior, but should endeavor at some degree of cheer- 
fulness, for the honor of God, and the ornament of religion. 
Let me show what my religion can do in such a case, and 
of what use its principles are towards the comfort, as well 
as support, of a sorrowful mind. *I read of some that could 
"rejoice in tribulation why should not I? If I am not 
yet able, I will try to learn that lesson, hard as it appears 
to me at present. It is no mark of the divine favor to 
escape all troubles. " Behold, these are the ungodly, who 
prosper in the world ; they increase in riches : they are not 
in trouble as other men." Psa. 73 : 5, 12. But I am sure of 
this, that to bear the hand of God, and resign to it, because 
"it is the Lord," is a mark of his favor and love. This 
grace bestowed is a greater gift than any thing he has taken 
away — a greater gain than any thing I have lost in my de- 
parted comforts, or disappointed hopes. Common mercier 
are no proofs of special favor ; but the grace that teaches us 
to joy in tribulation, and to say, " Not my will, but thine be 
done," comes to us with that address, "Hail, thou that art 
highly favored of the Lord ;" and with that privilege the 
apostle speaks of, " As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," 2 
Cor. 6 : 10 — sorrowful in appearance, but always rejoicing 
in reality ; because in such a case there will always be to 
such a one more cause of joy than sorrow. " Therefore I 
take pleasure in infirmity, in reproaches, in necessity, perse- 



HINDERANCES TO SUBMISSION. 



303 



cution and distresses, for the sake of- Christ. Most gladly, 
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the 
power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Cor. 12:9, 10. 
" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit 
be in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the 
fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the 
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall ; yet will I re- 
joice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." 
Hab. 3 : 17, 18. "Whence had these men this secret ? Can- 
not I have it at the same place ? I come to the throne of 
grace for this grace and mercy to help in this time of need, 
that I may lay all at His feet, and bring every high thought 
to the obedience of faith, and every tumultuous thought into 
a calm submission to the will of God ; and with cheerful- 
ness proclaim to all, that I am pleased with my Governor, 
however irksome to flesh and blood this correction may be. 



SECTION YI. 

THE IMPEDIMENTS THAT HINDER THIS SO REASONABLE A 
DUTY, AND SO LOVELY A FRAME OF SOUL, IN A TIME 
OF SORROW. 

An evil heart of unbelief, in whatever degree it be, does 
in the same degree lessen the influence that invisible things 
ought to have upon me. If I indeed believe that life and 
immortality are brought to light by the gospel, I shall not 
behave as one who thinks there is nothing in the case but 
death and parting. The eye that is kept on the future world 
will not always weep. "Let not your heart be troubled: 
ye believe in God.". John 14:1. Is believing then an 
antidote against trouble of heart ? "Where there is no faith, 
there is no submission ; where there is a weak faith, there 
is but a weak submission. We may expect that he will say 
to us, " Be it unto you according to your faith." We are 



301 



THE MOURNER. 



not likely to endure well, without " seeing him that is invis- 
ible." And then our submission will be in proportion tc 
what we discern in God by faith, and what we expect from 
him by hope. " If ye will not believe, ye shall not be estab- 
lished," neither in grace nor in comfort; "but to him that 
believeth, all things are possible," as it engages His help to 
whom all things are easy. As all the pulses in the most 
distant veins of the body depend upon that of the heart, so 
it is with the movements of the soul : as a man's heart is, so 
is he, whether it be a heart of faith and patience, or an evil 
heart of unbelief. 

Unbelief says, God's hand is shortened that he cannot 
save, or his goodness lessened that he will not ; and this in- 
disposes us to put ourselves under his protection. Unbelief 
says he has no pity, and why then should we cast ourselves 
upon his mercy? How can a man part with beloved rela- 
tions, who does not believe that he shall either meet them 
again, or not miss them ? " "Why art thou cast down, 0 my 
soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ?" says David. 
Why ? Whatever was the cause, the remedy was faith and 
hope. " Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him." 
They who have no faith to believe that all things shall work 
together for good, must needs be a miserable prey to the 
grief of disappointments. They who cannot hope in God. 
when their soul is cast down and disquieted, cannot entei 
into this rest, "because of unbelief." Excessive mourning, 
is mourning as those without hope. 

Self-will, or an eagerness for our own will, is a great 
hinderance to submission. A man who is impatient of cross 
words or contradiction, as if born to have always his own 
will, to be always humored and pleased, is greatly unpre- 
pared for trials, and likely to fret against God. Pharaoh is 
not the only man whose language has been, " ' Who is the 
Lord, that I should obey him ?' I own no throne higher 
than my own ; nor will I receive law from any other, God 



HTNDERANCES TO 



SUBMISSION. 



306 



or man." The same says every one that disputes the suprem- 
acy with God, in contending whose will shall be done. 

No people have their will less than those who are for 
having it always : they draw more troubles upon them, and 
feel them deeper. Generally, this temper is its own pun- 
ishment to a great degree — a root of bitterness, from which 
a thousand vexations spring up that would have had no ex- 
istence, or would have been far less afflictive to those who 
make a sacrifice of their will to the will of God. Take away 
self-will and there would be no sin, no hell, no kingdom of 
Satan. Take away self-will, and you take away a thousand 
sorrows which it only creates to itself, and which are escaped 
by the yielding will of resignation.^ 

We promise ourselves too much from this world, and % 
from all our relations and conditions in it ; and the higher 
we rise in our expectations and opinions of things, the lower 
we fall in the vexations of disappointment. Men launch 
into the world in as unaccountable a manner as those sea- 
men who, because it is fair weather when they set sail, make 
no provision for a storm. What confusion must they be in 
when the storm comes down. We must not promise our- 
selves an exemption from those troubles that are common 
to all mankind. We must not flatter ourselves to attain 
what we have in prospect, or hold long what we have in 
possession. 

Great affections make way for great afflictions, and make 
submission to Providence the harder. The advice of the 
apostle is very well suited to a world, the fashion or scheme 
of which passeth away. " This I say, brethren, the time is 
short. It remaineth, that both they who have wives be as 
though they had none ; and they that weep" the loss oi 
them, " as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice, as 

* '"If God would study a close, quick, and certain way of being 
revenged on a man, lie need but open his stores, and bid him choose 
for himself." S. Ford. 



30b 



THE MOURNER. 



though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy, as though they 
possessed not ; and they that use this world, as not abusing 
it; for the fashion of this world passeth away." 1 Cor 
7:29-31. Did not I know it was hastening to an end? 
Why did I set ray heart upon it, as if it was more durable ? 
Why did I make the parting more afflictive, and the resig- 
nation more difficult, by the intemperance of my affection ? 

The Jews had a custom, at their wedding-feasts, for the 
married couple to drink in the same glass together, and then 
to break it in pieces ; teaching them by that emblem, that 
whatever felicity they expected together, their lives, upon 
which it all depended, were frail and brittle as glass. No 
sooner joined, but they were warned to prepare for separa- 
tion. So, in our forms of matrimony, the clause, " until death 
do us part," is a memento to the same purpose. 

It is as much my duty to pray that I may be willing 
and able to part with any dear comfort of life in a right 
manner, as to pray for its continuance. We are apt to be 
most earnest for their continuance, as if it was a greater 
thing for God to please us. than for us to please God. The 
grace that says, " Thy will be done," is infinitely more neces- 
sary to me than any good thing God can take away, to try 
that grace, and show me that I have it. 

Mourner. "Oh Lord, thou knowest how near that per- 
son lay to my heart; but thou knowest that thy favor is 
nearer still. I would not fear so much the losing any thing, 
as of offending thee. Thou wilt surely grant my request in 
one of these two things : either to continue the mercy I 
enjoy, or help me to resign it at thy call, in the manner 
thou shaft approve ; and then, whatever loss there may be 
in such a removal, I am sure the sense of thine approbation 
is such a gain as can never cost me too dear." 

He that will die well, must die daily, and practise upon 
the foresight of it. So he that will resign well, and with a 
becoming grace, must practice upon resignation, and fre* 



HINDERS NCES.TO SUBMISSION. 



307 



quenlly put cases to himself: "What if I 'should return 
home this evening, and find my house in flames ? That fail 
estate, which is now to supply my wants and support my 
family, what if it should take wings and fly away ? What 
if the desire of mine eyes should be taken off with a stroke ; 
or I should see that pretty child lie a dead corpse ? That 
which I now lay in my bosom, I shall not be able to bear in 
my sight. What should I then do? How should I be- 
have ? Ami prepared for such a case ? If not, I have the 
more reason to think of it beforehand. If I am prepared for 
it, then I can better bear to think of it now ; or else, how 
shall I bear the thing itself, when by refusing to think of it 
at all, I continue to make it more intolerable?" 

As hard as this practice seems to be, it is much harder 
to be surprised without ever having thought of the matter, 
or preparing for it. Though hard, it is designed to make 
that easier which otherwise is one of the hardest things in 
the world, and will be so always, the less it is thought of in 
time. 

Another impediment to resignation, is a conceit of our 
own cleservings. How can that person submit to mean 
allotments of Providence, who fancies himself deserving of 
the best ? The uneasiness with which a man takes a low 
rank in the world, is in proportion to the opinion he has of 
himself as qualified for higher stations. Modesty and humil- 
ity save a deal of trouble here. " I have a great deal, for 
one that deserves nothing ; nay, for one who deserves mis- 
ery. Let the Lord place me where he pleases ; if it be out 
of hell, I shall have reason for praise and thanks, enough to 
keep out murmuring." You cry and complain and repine. 
I ask you, Did God owe you any thing ? Is he accountable 
to you? Do you deserve any thing? Who are you, and 
what are you more, or better, than those many who at this 
time are suffering for God with faith and patience, in the 
want of all things ; and would think they had hardly any 



308 \ 



THE MOURNER. 



thing to ask for on this side heaven, if they could but quietly 
serve God in the enjoyment of half of that which can hardly 
make you civil to the Almighty, for want of more ? To 
enlarge our desires is laying ourselves open to needless vex- 
ations, as numerous as our needless desires. He whose de- 
sires are a hundred times larger than others, is every day 
liable to so many hundred times more vexations and disap- 
pointments. 



SECTION -VII. 

HELP AGAINST IMMODERATE GRIEF, FROM SOME CONSID- 
ERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO GOD, WHO TAKETH AWAY. 

"It is the Lord." 1 Sam. 3 : 18. This is the answer 
made to the heavy message brought by young Samuel to old 
Eli. " I Avill do a thing in Israel," says God, " at which 
both the ears of every one that hears it shall .tingle :" he 
would cut off all his family, and his father's house. " Thou 
shalt see an enemy in my habitation ; and there shall not be 
an old man in thy house for ever. And the man of thine, 
whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to con- 
sume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart : and all the increase 
of thy house shall die in the flower of their age, and thy two 
sons shall both die in one day." 1 Sam. 2 : 31-34. Here 
is the death of children in the flower of their age ; poverty 
extreme ; extinction of his family, and till then, the branches 
of it should only live to plague the parent : a dreadful threat- 
ening. But he answers. "It is the Lord." 

His absolute propriety in us and all that we have is 
unanswerable. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof." The products, the inhabitants, the furniture of 
all worlds are his. " Shall he not do what he will with his 
own?" If I myself am his property, every thing I have 
must be so too. 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



309 



His absolute sovereignty over all things is uncontrollable. 
Behold, he taketh away, and who can hinder him ?" Job 
9 : 1.?. £: He doeth whatsoever he pleases in the array of 
heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." 

His transcendent majesty and excellency are not to be 
disputed. Shall not his excellency make thee afraid to mur- 
mur against him. and to find fault with his ways ; and his 
dread fall upon thee ? Job 13 : 11. 

He that sits on the throne of the universe, who shakes 
heaven and earth with his voice ; who hath power to lodge 
a heaven or hell in thy breast, by his smiles or frowns, ac- 
cording as he pleases to reward thy submission, or punish 
thy discontent ; who can employ legions of angels to be thy 
guard, or devils to be thy tormentors ; he that can silence thy 
murmurs with thunder, or stop thy insolent breath with fire 
and brimstone, and horrible tempest; "shall not his excel- 
lency make thee afraid?" He who dwells in light that is 
unapproachable, before whom angels veil their faces ; shall 
I lift up my bold front against this God, and charge that 
brightness with a spot, that wisdom with folly, and that 
justice of his with an iniquity? 

His infinite perfections, what language do they speak? 
He is infinitely wise, and cannot err ; infinitely powerful, 
and cannot be resisted ; infinitely holy, and cannot behold 
iniquity without abhorrence ; infinitely good, and can do no 
evil : likewise true, and cannot falsify his word. If it were 
possible to take the universal management out of his hands 
into your own, it would be best to replace it in the hand of 
God again. It is he to whose will all the world besides com- 
plies ; why should not I ? And when I read that Christ him- 
self said, " I am come to do thy-will, 0 God;" and, " Father, 
not as I will, but as thou wilt ;" who am I, that I should 
pretend to speak any other language ? 

Consider the relation in which he stands to us. My will 
he made ; shall he not give laws to his own creature ? Did 



310 



THE MOURNER. 



he make tins hand to strike at himself; this breath, this 
tongue to speak against him, and this will to rebel against 
himself? As I am a dependent creature, in him I live, 
move, and have my being. As I am an expectant creature, 
is it the way to obtain my will of him, to deny the homage 
of my will to him? As I am a sinful creature, have not 1 
enough of guilt upon me already ? Should I swell the 
account, and increase my misery ? As I am an accountable 
creature, he is my Judge ; as I am a recoverable creature, 
he is my Saviour. And am I angry with any of his methods 
towards making all these ideas concur to my salvation ? To 
be redeemed from the tyranny of my own will and fancy 
and appetite, is no small part of the redemption by Jesus 
Christ. Did he give himself up to death for us ; and shall 
I think it too much to give my will up to his ? Shall the 
redeemed from thraldom dispute the orders of the Redeemer ? 
Shall servants dispute the will of their Master ; and subjects 
say to such a King, " "What doest thou ?" Are we his friends 
upon any other terms than doing whatsoever he commands 
us ? And if, as children, we go to him as " our Father who 
is in heaven," must we not add, " Thy will be done ?" 

Whether we submit to his will or no, his will shall be 
done. "His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleas- 
ure." You may as well submit by grace, and have the com- 
fort of so doing, as be forced to it without grace and without 
comfort, whether you will or no. If it be an act of homage', 
your submission has a reward ; but if it be merely because 
you cannot help it, you have only sorrow for your pains. 
What docs all your fretting amount to ? Will it change the 
course of providence, and allay griefs? 

Consider how much God might have taken away besides '. 
he might have left you no one comfort ; he might have taken 
away all as well as a part. He might have given up your 
soul to terror, your body to disease, and your affairs to con« 
fusion and calamity. 



HELPS AG-. A IN ST SORROW. 



311 



It is by his providence that all things are conducted ; 
the most casual, the most trivial. Lots, the most casual, 
Prov. 16 : 33, and a sparrow falling to the ground, or a hair, 
the most trivial things, 

If there was no providence, we should want one of the 
best antidotes against the fear of what is to come, and the 
sorrow for what is past ; for, as bishop Patrick observes, all 
the care would then lie upon ourselves, and be too much for 
us. But when we think of infinite wisdom and power gov- 
erning all things, one need not be disquieted, as if we and 
chance were to govern the world. Some have satisfied 
themselves with the thought that it is in vain to be troubled, 
since things must be as they will be ; but this is cold comfort, 
to be content on mere necessity, though it is the main part 
of what the heathen comforters afforded. Thanks be to God 
that we have something better : that the world is not gov- 
erned merely by the will of God, but also by his wisdom and 
goodness ; and he disposes of all things, not only as absolute 
Lord, that we may be sensible of his power, but as a loving 
Father, that we should be sensible of his goodness. It is a 
distrust of God to be overtroubled at what is to come ; it is 
impatience to fret at what is present, and anger against him 
to be overconcerned about what is past. This frame of 
spirit finds fault with his wisdom and blames his goodness ; 
depresses his power, and reprehends his faithfulness in the 
disposal of things ; and therefore it is a sinful frame, and 
speedily to be amended. 

The wise and great ends he is advancing, to his own glory 
and my good, is another consideration. God hath as much 
right to use me to the purposes of his own glory, whethci 
perceived by me or not, as I have to the use of any instru- 
ment in my house, or of any servant, without acquainting 
him with my purposes. Thus, in the case of Abraham. 
Joseph, and Job, had they not been used by God much oth- 
erwise than their natural will inclined them to choose, we 



312 



THE MOURNER. 



had lost the benefit of the finest instances of submission m 
the world>' " 0 Lord, we are the clay, and thou our potter; 
and we are all the work of thy hands." Isa. 64 . 8. " Can- 
not I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord ? Behold, 
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand." 
Jer. 18 : 6. 

Whatever you lose or part with, you cannot be miserable 
while you have this Lord to be your God and portion — the 
God who made the creatures we are so fond of, and gave 
them all that loveliness which made us so fond of them ; 
and who has in himself all that loveliness which he gave, 
and infinitely more, How does it sound to say, "I am un- 
done, for I have nothing but God left?" Surely God can 
supply the room of any departed creature, though the whole 
world cannot fill up the room of a departed God. To lose a 
creature and find a God, has been a happy exchange to some, 
whose losses have brought them to know God and themselves 
to much better purpose than ever. 

He that takes away will give more grace in time of 
need, and of his strength to bear any burden, however dis- 
proportioned to our own. "He giveth more grace," and 
more still, as the case requires ; for God "is faithful, who will 
not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able ; but 
with the temptation will also find a way to escape, that we 
may be able to bear it." Escape by bearing, though not 
from bearing. He is supposed to escape well who is made 
" able to bear." 

Submission to his will is one of the best ways of glorify- 
ing God, and the most acceptable sacrifice we can make. It 
supposes you will dispute nothing with him, after having 
surrendered your own will to the will of God. Martyrdom 
itself is but the consequence of that disposition, and will be 

t; I see God will have all my heart, and he shall have it,'' was a 
fine reflection made by a lady, when news was brought of two ohrdren 
nrowned, wbom she loved very much. 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



313 



sure to follow, when God calls this grace to act its part that 
way. The same grace that enables us to suffer from him 
will help us to suffer for him. 

To sacrifice a will to God, is that reasonable service, and 
living sacrifice, which is holy and acceptable, Horn. 12:1, 
as much Ijeyond the sacrifices of Aaron, as the soul and 
spirit of ar. obedient Christian are beyond the dead carcass 
of a beast. Turn mountains into altars, and offer upon those 
altars the cattle of a thousand hills ; pour out ten thousand 
rivers of oil for a drink-offering, it would never be accepted 
instead of that demand, "My son, give me thy heart, and 
Jet thine eyes observe my ways."* 

"Without this surrender of soul, he calls all the outward 
practices of religion but flattery with the lips; and with 
very good reason, for men count themselves flattered when 
our behavior is not at all in accordance with the fine things 
we say to them. So are we accounted to flatter God when 
we ascribe to him those perfections, and give him those titles 
which, when it comes to the point of trial, we seem to unsay 
again. We call him the Most High God, but by and by 
something else appears higher in our esteem and regard : 
that husband, that child, that wife, or that estate, or honor. 
We call him most glorious, and yet glory more in something 
else. You may compliment him with the title of Faithful 
and True ; but while he sees that you will not trust him in 
the way of your duty, that you will not take his word in a 
promise, for a work of piety to God or charity to man, he 
counts it but flattery. If you call him " Lord, Lord," and 
yet "do not the things that he says;" if you call him your 
God and portion, and yet, upon the taking away of what, 
was apparently more dear to you, your outrage of complaint 

* The Chaldee paraphrase upon Psalm 50 :23, "Whoso offereth 
praise, glorifieth me ; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, 
will I show the salvation of God," is, "Whoso subdues and destroys 
the principle of inordinate affection, it shall be accounted to him for a 
sacrifice of praise." 

Affl. Man's Onmp. 14 ■ 



314 



THE MOURNER. 



speaks that language, "Ye have taken away my gods, and 
what have I more?" however it may appear to men, what 
God thinks of it all, he has told you in these words : " They 
remembered that God was their Hock, and the high God 
their Redeemer: nevertheless, they did Hatter him with 
their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues." 
Psalm 78 : 35, 36. He saw it to be all flattery and lies. 

"Do you see," says God, "how that person behaves in 
the offices of devotion? Can any body be more assiduous 
in reading, prayer, hearing, and sacraments? You shall 
now see what all this is good for, and of how little worth." 
God puts forth his hand accordingly, and takes away the 
delight of his eyes with a stroke; when presently, the God 
that he seemed to adore with so much resignation, can hardly 
have a good word or a good thought from him — can hardly 
be allowed to be wise, or good and just, or any thing but a 
very severe and hard master. "He not only mourns, but he 
pines and consumes ; he rages against me ; I and my heaven 
now are cyphers, in comparison with the creature that I have 
done no harm to, but only removed, for purposes he himself 
will rejoice at when he comes to know them." 

In short, this submission is the sum and substance of 
religion, and the beauty of Christianity. Upon entering the 
school of Christ, this is the first lesson proposed to be learned, 
to "take up his cross and follow him;" and all that we do 
or suffer in religion afterwards, is either expressive of this 
or instrumental towards it. If we pray, it is that his'" will 
be done on earth, as it is in heaven." If we read, it is that 
we may know "what is the good and acceptable and perfect 
will of God," learn moderation in prosperous joy, calmness 
in troubles, and composure of mind with a decent vent of 
sorrow in every distress. 



HELPS AG-AI JSTST SORROW. 



315 



SECTION VIII. 

HELP AGAINST IMMODERATE GRIEF WITH RESPECT TC 
THE PERSONS DEPARTED. 

Had not God a property in them as well as you, prior to 
yours, and superior ? They were his before they were yours ; 
they are his now they are no longer yours, by a thousand 
obligations, ties, and relations, that ought to take place of all 
your claims and pretensions. 

Should they have been immortal here, only to please you ; 
have lived, though weary of life ; have staid, though longing 
to be gone ; and in misery, though fit for happiness ? Should 
they be kept in the troubles of life, in the pains of sickness, 
and in the infirmities of age ; or at best, in the insipid repe- 
tition of the same round of things, only to prevent a vacancy 
in any of your amusements or delights ? Is this thy kind- 
ness to thy friend ? 

Some parting time must come, why not this ? If the 
time of parting with them was left to our choice, it would 
greatly increase our confusion. 

They are not extinct and gone out of being. Their man- 
ner of existence is changed, but the existence itself is not 
lost. They that are fallen asleep in Christ are not perished. 
1 Cor. 15:18. They are not blotted out of being, nor out 
if life, upon our Christian scheme. 

The degree of happiness in their present state of separa- 
tion, whatever it is, affords a comfortable thought. If they 
are absent from you and from their own bodies, they are 
4< present with the Lord," which, I suppose, you will allow 
to be far better. So much better, indeed, that for the sake 
of entering into it, it is worth a good man's while to die at 
any time, and leave any company upon earth, though ever 
so pleasant or good. 

The spirit that returns to God who gave it, is received 



316 



THE MOUMER. 



by God, and welcomed in a maimer suitable to the relation 
and character in which it arrives there. " Blessed are the 
dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors." 
They could have little or no rest here, what with labor and 
trouble, temptation and sin. "What a vast improvement and 
knowledge must a disencumbered soul make in such a situ- 
ation. " Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face 
to face." If the pleasure be not so complete as after the 
resurrection, it must however be unspeakable, beyond all 
that this world affords. They are sure of their own salva- 
tion, and of being the heirs of glory. And if the pleasure of 
assurance here be so transporting, as to give sometimes a 
" joy unspeakable and full of glory ;" while we say with the 
apostle, " We know and have believed the love which God 
hath towards us ;" what will it be for a soul to find itself 
safely landed in the world of perfection, among spirits of just 
men made perfect, freed from all imperfections, natural and 
sinful ; returned to their native soil, having left that foreign 
country where they were pilgrims and strangers, and got 
home to their Father's house, where there are many man- 
sions ; in the best society and company, as well as the best 
place ; reviewing past dangers and labors ; admiring the 
wisdom of God, and his goodness, that has brought them 
thither ; and especially the goodness of that stroke we are 
mourning over here ? Their worship must needs be spirit- 
ual, who are all spirit — without weariness, failure, or inter- 
ruption. They have glorious scenes at present before them, 
and pleasing expectations of greater and more glorious 
things : such as the accomplishing the number of the elect, 
and all that shall be saved ; the fulfilling the great periods 
j>f prophecj' - that remain ; the downfall of antichrist ; the 
glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the resurrec- 
tion of the body ; the abolition of death, and the solemn cor- 
onation of all the conquerors through the blood of the Lamb, 
to a kingdom that can never be shaken. 



HELPS AG-A1NST SORROW. 



317 



Is this a condition to be lamented with incessant tears ? 
Is it for people who are in such a case as this, that we go 
up and down in black, with downcast looks and weeping 
eyes ? What one article of this happiness aforesaid is not 
worth more than the longest life of pleasure and honor in 
the world ? One would think that those things only wanted 
to be believed and thought on. Would we fetch them back 
from this condition if we could ? I am afraid we are so self- 
ish, that if the resurrection power were lodged in our hands 
for one day, we should immediately run to the graves of our 
dear departed, and fetch them back again. To stop our sor- 
rows for a while, we should begin theirs afresh, and bring 
them back to misery. They no sooner enter heaven, hut 
they wish they had been sooner there ; and the next wish is, 
that we may be with them too as soon as may be ; and yet 
we wish a quite contrary way. 

I think of the happy meeting again, which all the world 
shall not be able to hinder, after a few days are past. Let 
us not behave as if we were never to meet again. Do not 
mourn as without hope. Our religion teaches us to believe, 
that in the separate state we shall not be without the soci- 
ety of our departed godly relations and friends. The sepa- 
rate soul of the beggar Lazarus. is represented as in the 
company, nay, in the bosom of his father Abraham ; and the 
penitent thief was promised to be with Christ in paradise. 
The spirits of just men are not perfected in order to be an 
assembly of mutes ; nor is it likely they will be strangers to 
one another, when conversation in this imperfect world pro- 
duces acquaintance and social endearment. 

There will indeed be different ranks and orders of saints — 
different degrees of reward there, as of holiness here, and 
consequently of apartments and situations. But is it not the 
game in this world ? Is every one in the same rank and sta- 
tion ; of the same character or title and endowments ? And 
yet we "know one another, and converse together ; a great 



318 



THE MOURNER. 



deal of the beauty and pleasure of society arising from this 
variety, as it will also there. 

At the resurrection, you shall meet again in your glorified 
bodies, as well as perfect spirits. For all "that sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with him ;" and will change their vile 
bodies, and make them like to his own glorious body. It 
was sown a natural body ; it shall be raised a spiritual body, 
freed from all elementary dross ; will feel no pain, can need 
no food ; will never be weary, however exercised or employ- 
ed ; without any appetites that tend to inordinancy. Our 
bodies then will be immortal : " The children of the resurrec- 
tion die no more" — and incorruptible : " Sown in corruption, 
it is raised in incorruption." You will meet them with all 
these improvements, and to all these degrees far more de- 
lightful than ever. 

God will bring them with him as part of his glorious 
train, when Christ shall " be glorified in his saints, and ad- 
mired in all them that believe," as the trophies of all his 
conquests, the vessels of his grace, the members of his body, 
the spouse of his love, the shining instances of his faithful- 
ness and power, the assessors of his court of judgment, and 
partakers of his glory. 

How joyful will that meeting be ; how happy ; how glo- 
rious — never to part more. You were not always together 
here ; but you shall be always together after that meeting. 
The parting kiss, the v^oYdifareiveU, have no more room for 
ever. This meeting together again is what Christ pur- 
chased : " For to this end Christ both died and rose again, 
that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living." 
Rom. 14 : 9. This meeting together again is what the word 
of God has promised : " For this we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord, that we shall be caught up together with them 
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:15, 18. 

This is what the great God hath promised, and is very 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



319 



well able to perform. He is " able to keep you from falling, 
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory, 
with exceeding joy." Jude 24, 25. " And them also which 
sleep hi Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thess. 4 : 14. 
The return of Christ, and of those who sleep in him, have the 
same grounds of credibility. " If we believe that Christ 
died and rose again," then if you believe one you may be- 
lieve the other ; nay, you must and ought to believe the 
other, upon the credit of the same evidence and authority. 
"For if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ 
not risen." 1 Cor. 15:13. This general meeting is design- 
ed for general satisfaction. ''At that day ye shall know." 
John 14 : 20. God the Father will see with satisfaction 
the work of his hands in perfection, made fit to receive the 
communication of his endearments. The Lord Jesus Christ 
9 will see the travail of his soul, and be satisfied" in the full 
accomplishment of his design, in their complete felicity. 
The Holy Spirit will see with satisfaction the final success 
of his operations, in our perfect holiness and happiness. 
Angels will be pleased to see the success of their ministra- 
tions, and gladly welcome us the partners of. their joys. 
And as to ourselves, what an inexpressible reciprocation of 
endearing love and multiplied joy, to find ourselves all met 
together after our parting sorrows ; when all things and 
persons any way offensive shall be gathered out and thrown 
aside. No falsehood, rancor, partiality, mistake, prejudice, 
infirmity, passion, or pride, shall be met with there ; nor 
any thing to hinder the heavenly pleasure circulating through 
every heart, and dwelling upon every face and tongue. You 
do not mourn as those in Acts 20 : 38 : " Sorrowing most of 
all for the words which he spake, that they should see his 
face no more." 

Of immoderate grief we may say, as Solomon does of 
extravagant mirth, "What doeth it?" What doeth it for 
them who are gone, or for you ? It may do us much hurt, 



320 



THE MOURNER. 



but it can do them no good. It may weaken our bodies t 
and damage our health ; it may sadden our spirits, deprive 
us of the comforts of life, and indispose us for the duties»of 
it. And what then? What advantage to the departed 
from so costly a sacrifice to their memory ? Do they need 
your tears, who have for ever taken leave of weeping? 
Could your cries call back the departed spirit, and awaken 
the body into life ; could you water the plant with your tears 
till it revived, you might weep like a cloud, and call nothing 
excessive that was likely to prove successful. But there are 
no Elijahs now, who may stretch themselves upon the child 
and bring back the soul >1r It is more reasonable to conclude 
with David, " Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? 
Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him, but he 
shall not return to me." 2 Sam. 12 : 23. 

But if we could, would we have them walk over the prec- 
ipice once more ? Would we have them fight the battle over 
again, run the race again, be tempted, sin, and suffer again? 
Should they come back for our gratification, from that holy 
place to this place of sin ; from that happy place to this 
place of trouble ; from joy to sorrow, from rest and peace to 
new vexations ? Their sentiments are different, their affec- 
tions raised and ennobled ; and as well as they loved you, 
they would not come back to you for all this world ; and, as 
well as you loved them, you cannot, it seems, wish them joy 
of their new elevation and dignity. Should not our godly 
friends be allowed to wear the crown they have been fight- 
ing for, and the prize for which they have been running 7 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



321 



SECTION IX. 

HELP AGAINST INORDINATE SORROW, FROM SOME CONSID. 
ERATIONS WITH REGARD TO OURSELVES. 

Self-love is at the bottom of our sorrow. I have lost 
a pleasure and an advantage. I am mourning over the 
living, rather than the dead. If one every way the same 
would make me easy, the sorrow is not for the departed, but 
for myself who survive. 

No strange thing has befallen me ; nothing but what is 
common to men. It is no more strange that a man should 
die, than that he should be born. Am I better than my 
fathers, who are dead and gone ? "Whom makest thou thy- 
self? Where is the sense and reason of pretending to an 
exemption from the common lot of mankind? "Beloved, 
think it not strange, as though some strange thing happened 
unto you," 1 Peter, 4:12; for this is no strange thing, that 
a mortal should die. 

I come into a family, and see one in a corner weeping 
and sighing ; another is fallen upon a couch, unable to hold 
up the head ; another is run up to a chamber, like David, 
to weep and cry out, "Oh, Absalom, my son, my son!" 
What is the matter? Why, one that was born to die, is 
dead. Was it the first child or husband that ever died? 
No. Had you a patent from Heaven against the common 
lot? No. Would you have had God make him immortal 
to please you ? "He teareth himself in his anger : shall the 
earth be forsaken for thee ; and shall the rock be removed 
out of its place ?" Job 18 : 4. 

How many mercies and comforts are continued to thee, 
that might also have been taken away ; and how many 
troubles prevented, that might have befallen you. You. 
have lost some children ; it might have been all. You have 
lost all ; it might have been your husband too, or wife, at 
14* 



322 



THE MOURNER. 



the same time. You have lost husband, or wife ; it might 
have been also estate, and all the means of subsistence. Or 
suppose that is gone too ; you have liberty, health, pease, 
and friends. Or suppose they are also gone, you are out of 
hell, and within reach of heaven ; which I will say is a 
greater thing than any you have lost, or all these put to- 
gether. Pardon of sin and peace with God may still be 
yours. 

Mourner. These, I fear, are not mine. 

Answer. Nay, then it is time to mourn over something 
else than a dead friend. To mourn over a dead soul of your 
own, to mourn over a lost G-od, to sorrow for sin — these are 
infinitely more to your purpose than sorrowing for the dead. 
And there is at least this room to rejoice, that all these 
spiritual blessings may he had. You may be pardoned, ac- 
cepted, sanctified, and saved. And it is a matter of great 
comfort that these things are possible, and within reach. 

Mourner. But I would have had these spiritual bless- 
ings, with the life and enjoyment also of those that are 
gone. 

Answer. That is, you would have every thing accord- 
ing to your desire and fancy ; that G-od and providence 
should take their orders from you, and consult your liking, 
before they execute their decrees. But, "should it be ac- 
cording to thy mind ?" Job 34 : 33. He that has a pillow 
to lay his head upon, and yet, as one says, will needs lay it 
upon a stone ; he that has many convenient seats to sit upon, 
and nothing will serve him but a bush of thorns, surely they 
must be very much in love with sorrow and melancholy, 
who enjoy so many blessings, and yet will slight all the 
pleasures of them to pine away in the company of their 
wants. Understand what you now possess, as you would do 
if it were taken away, and then you will have a better relish 
for it. 

The miseries and trouble entailed on the posterity of 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



323 



Adam are numerous They are compared to the sparks that 
fly up, for number. It is a mercy we escape any of them ; 
that all these sparks do not kindle upon us together ; that all 
these troubles do not seize upon us at once ; that out of so 
many miseries we should have so few, when we are born 
to all by descent, subject to all by nature, deserving of all 
by sin. 

1 Do you forget what your sins deserve? "Wherefore 
doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of 
his sin?" Lam. 3 : 39 : a living man, when you might have 
been dead ; for the punishment of sin, when you might have 
been damned? The punishment of sin on this side of hell, 
is always less than our iniquities deserve. 

Mourner. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, be 
cause I have sinned against him. 

Answer. "Let every man," says one, "when he com- 
putes what he lacks of his desires, reckon as exactly how 
far he is short in his duty ; and when he has duly pondered 
both, he will think it a very easy compromise, though his 
wants should be unsupplied, provided his sins be pardoned ; 
and will see cause to sit down contentedly with honest 
Mephibosheth : 'What right have I yet to cry any more to 
the king?'" 2 Sam. 19 : 28. 

The good of affliction in general ought to be taken into 
the account, as another consideration to assuage our griefs. 
"He for our profit" chastises, says the apostle. " It is good 
for me that I have been afflicted," says David. 

Afflictions have a tendency to awaken our repentance; 
to stir us up to search and try our ways, in order to turn our 
feet unto God's testimonies. " I will go and return to my 
place, till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face. 
In their affliction they will seek me early." Hos. 5 : 15. 
And so it proved. "Come, let us return to the Lord: he 
hath torn us, and he will heal ; he hath broken us, and he 
will bind us up." Hos. 6:1. They help to wean us from 



324 



THE MOURNER. 



this world, and make us more willing to depart ; as we must 
needs be less fond of the world, the more troublesome it is 
to us; and as it rn^kes our dying the more easy and more 
welcome, to have those sent before us for w T hose sake we 
oight desire ta live, and with whom we desire to be. We 
have fewer ties and engagements to earth. The fibres being 
cut off, and the roots loosened, the tree falls with greater 
ease. 1 
Afflictions bring us to thoughtfulness and consideration, 
when all other means in the world can hardly do it. A 
man can sit under a sermon as unmoved as if the joys of 
heaven, the sorrows of hell, and the eternity of both, were 
no part of his concern ; the excellency of God, the vanity 
of the world, the deformity of sin, and the beauty of holi- 
ness, shall leave him unmoved, if not asleep ; he little regards 
the message, or the messenger : but let God send one of Job's 
messengers to tell him such a ship is lost, his house is burnt, 
or such a dear relation dead, presently he is awake, and has 
more thoughts of heart in an hour, than he had before in a 
month. 

The patient bearing of such afflictions, and the sanctified 
improvement of them, is one mark of our sonship and the 
love of God to us. Should you lose the comfort of such an 
evidence by impatience? "If you endure chastening, he 
dealeth with you as with sons." Heb. 12:7. To endure, 
seems to signify more than merely to be chastised ; namely, 
to accept the chastisement as from the hand of God, and to 
bear it with becoming decency and patience. There is one 
remark more, proper for some mourners, from these words : 
" If ye endure chastening, he dealeth with you as with sons." 
What a mistake is it then to say, "If I was a child of God, 
he would not deal with me in such a manner;" when the 
text says, "If ye endure chastening, he dealeth with you aa 
with sons." 

Affliction well sustained improves every part of our relig- 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 325 

ion. It teaches compassion and sympathy towards others 
in their troubles. It gives an edge to our devotion, ardency 
to our prayers, tenderness to our heart, and a life to our 
graces ; it is the trial and triumph of our faith ; patience 
hath its perfect work ; our resolutions for God are confirmed, 
so that we take faster hold of God and of those things that 
cannot be taken from us. 

Our sorrows, at longest, are but short ; and we shall 
shortly ourselves go the same way. How diminutively does 
the apostle speak of the afflictions of this present time. " Our 
light afflictions, which are but for a moment." 2 Cor. 4 : 17. 
You call them heavy, he calls them light; and those light 
afflictions but for a moment ; and that moment of light afflic- 
tions worketh for us. You are apt to think they all work 
against you, but they work for you "a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory." The contrast lies between 
affliction and glory; light affliction, and the weight of 
glory ; a light affliction for a moment, and weight of glory 
eternal: spoken as much like an orator, as like an apostle. 
And who was it that said all this? One that knew as well 
what affliction was — one that had as much of it to his share, 
as any man in the world. "In labors more abundant, in 
stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths 
oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save 
one ; thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, 
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been 
in the deep ; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in 
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils 
by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- 
ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in 
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and 
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness ; besides the 
care of all the churches," 2 Cor. 11 : 23-28 : and yet, light 
afflictions! 

" The time is short. It remaineth that they that weep, 



326 THE MOURNER. 

be as though they wept not." 1 Cor. 7, 29, 30. " The end of 
all things is at hand." I shall shortly know myself what it 
is to change worlds. It is more to the purpose to prepare 
for my own death, than fruitlessly to lament that of another. 
And to make sure of meeting my godly friends, is more now 
rny business, than to lose time in bewailing their parting. 
"Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth 
nigh." James 5:8. 

It will be a double loss to lose the dear relations, and to 
lose the benefit of the affliction too ; it is enough to have 
lost them. Shall I lose the spiritual advantage that might 
be gained by such a trial, and into which it might be im- 
proved ? 

Patient submission gives the surest possession of our- 
selves, and the best enjoyment of every thing else. "In 
your patience possess ye your souls." Luke 21 : 19. With- 
out it, we have lost possession of ourselves : and he that does 
not enjoy himself, can enjoy nothing else ; for whatever is 
poured into a tainted vessel is all spoiled. 

It is a dangerous thing to provoke God by obstinate grief, 
lest a worse thing come unto us. For he hath said, "With 
the froward I will show myself froward." Psalm 18:26. 
"He that hath a froward heart findeth no good." Prov. 
17 : 20. " Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. 
He that doth keep his soul" quiet and submissive, "shall be 
far from them." Prov. 22 : 5. And after this, Do I well to 
be angry ? Would any one choose to walk upon thorns and 
briers, that could pick out an easier path ? Where one tear 
falls on account of complying with God's will, a multitude 
fall in consequence of having our own will. Not only the 
miseries of this life, but the eternal miseries of the life to 
come, are owing to this unresigned self-will. It may be 
written on many a tomb, Here lies the body of N. N. t 

BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE HIS OWN WILL. 



KELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



327 



SECTION X. 

HELP AGAINST IMMODERATE GRIEF, FROM CONSIDERATIONS 
WITH RESPECT TO OTHERS, AND THE WORLD AEOUT US. 

Compare your case with that of others, and you may 
easily observe more miserable and mournful ones. There 
are a thousand persons with whom you would not change 
conditions. By what law is it, that you must only gaze at 
those above you, and take no notice of those below ? That 
you must look on him only who is carried on men's shoulders, 
and think it a fine thing to be so mounted, but never considei 
the poor men that carried him, whose place you would by 
no means accept of. "You look with a greedy eye upon 
such a one's wealth," says bishop Patrick ; " would you have 
it with his cares and fears, his conscience and mind; his 
ignorance, and perhaps his folly and vices ; his ill-taste of 
things, and incapacity of intellectual pleasures ; his uncom- 
fortable prospects?" 

Mourner. No, I would be myself what I am, with the 
addition of what I want. 

Answer. Are you sure of continuing what you are with 
that addition? Since no one can have all things, is not 
yours a good lot? What pretences have you, for every good 
thing to centre in yourself? "Was it always as well with you 
as it is now? Formerly you had no being; formerly you had 
none of those relations or possessions you now lament. You 
have lost that which some never had. Can you say, you had 
rather never have had them than to lose them ? If it was 
a good thing, the having of it for a time was a greater good 
than not to have had it at all. 

Compare your griefs with the miserable sorrows and 
sufferings of others. You will find such a one has lost her 
pretty children; and at the same time a loving husband, 
that was better to her than ten sons. Another has lost a 



328 



THE MOURNER. 



near relation, and with that near relation, away went the 
means of subsistence. The sons of Zedekiah were slain 
before his face ; and then his own eyes were put out, and 
he himself led into captivity. 2 Kings, 25 : T. David had 
the mortification of a beloved son dying in actual rebellion 
against his father, his prince, and against his God. How 
much more terrible was that, than to close his eyes in a 
peaceful way. The mother of the Maccabees saw her 
seven sons tormented to death before her face ; and she her- 
self afterwards underwent the same. The sufferings of the 
primitive Christians, how grievous ! The patient resignation 
of our English martyrs to be burnt, how remarkable, how 
affecting, how glorious ! If mankind were to bring together 
all their several troubles and calamities, in all their circum- 
stances of good and bad that attend them, and lay them in 
one common heap, on this condition, that when they had so 
done, every man was to come again to take up an equal por- 
tion of the miseries of life, and divide them equally, a great 
many who now complain would gladly take up what they 
brought, and go away contented. 

What if the great God designs that others, who look on, 
should have the benefit of my example and good behavior 
under such a trial as this ? Hath he not a right to use me 
for such a purpose ? And does it not become me to comply 
with it and behave accordingly ? Job lost his children, his 
estate, his health, and in some measure his reputation with 
his friends, his ease, and peace ; and all this to show the 
world a pattern of patience. Shall others have no benefit 
from the example of our behavior ? Though God can never 
want a cause of inflicting evil where sin is, yet this shows 
that sin is not always the cause. " Hast thou considered 
my servant Job," says God to Satan, "that there is none 
like him in the earth, although thou movedst me against 
hiiT- to destroy him without cause." Job 2 : 3. 

This resignation is the most distinguishing character of 



HELPS AGAINST SORROW. 



329 



a Christian ; that which does most undoubtedly distinguish 
good men from bad. The externals of religion cannot do 
it, because they are common to the hypocrite and to the sin- 
cere. The hypocrite can hear and read, sing psalms and 
pray, and receive sacraments, as the true Christian does, and 
administer them too, and preach ; but to give up the will to 
the disposal of God, and obey his will, is what no hypocrite 
can do and continue such. For it is the essence of hypoc- 
risy to pretend to let God have our will, and yet resolve to 
have our own ; and it is the evidence of sincerity to be 
thankful if God will let us have our own will, but contented 
with his and submissive to it. All other parts of religion, 
I say, lie in common. If you hear sermons ever so atten- 
tively, the hypocrite will sit as demurely : " They sit before 
me as my people sit." Herod heard John gladly, and did 
many things. If you pray fervently and frequently, the 
hypocrite may be as frequent, long, and copious. The Phar- 
isees, "for a pretence, made long prayers." You cannot 
come to the Lord's supper oftener, nor behave with more 
devotion than they do. Judas sat down with the twelve. 
If you entertain good discourse with great readiness in 
scripture language, the hypocrite can do the same. Men 
may preach to others, and be cast away themselves — may 
be companions to good men, as Demas was to Paul, and yet 
be lovers of this present world, so as to forsake the disciples 
for it ; men may be any thing, and do any thing short of this 
resigned will to God, and yet be no Christians. But the 
surrender of our will to God is a sacrifice of that sort which 
demonstrates him that makes it to be a Christian indeed. 

The children of wrath are described from their not 
having resigned their will to God : " Fulfilling the desires 
of the flesh and of the mind," Eph. 2 : 3, that is, their 
owr wills, and not God's — their own wills in opposition to 
God's. And " they have altogether broken the yoke and 
burst the bonds." Jer. 5:5. " Let us break their bands 



330 



THE IOUENEH. 



asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Psa. 2 : 3. 
The children of God, on the contrary, are described, from the 
entire surrender of their will to God, " as obedient children, 
not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts," 
not acting merely according to your own will, " but as h3 
who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of 
conversation." David was a man " after God's own heart, 
and served his generation according to the will of God ;" 
while others are described as walking after their own imagi- 
nation. Jer. 23 : 17. 

The devil will let you have as much religion as you 
please without this, because he knows all religion that 
leaves the will of man unresigned to God, will never rescue 
the soul out of his hands. 

Immoderate passion, for losing or gaining any thing in 
this world, is a reproach to religion, to good principles, and 
to the best prospects in the world ; as if these were not 
sufficient to bear us up and to bear us out, or to make ample 
amends for the loss of any comfort ; as if God with all his 
perfections, and heaven with all its glories, were nothing, 
no, nothing to that child, that husband, that wife, that 
estate. I have seen a grief so stubborn as to prove insensi- 
ble to all the principles and prospects that could be men- 
tioned. 

In such cases we fall short of many excellent heathen. 
We are outdone by those with whom we are ashamed to be 
compared, considering all things. Some of them had noble 
sentiments under the loss of estates, relations, or friends. 
Zeno lost all in a shipwreck ; he protested it was the best 
voyage he ever made in his life, because it proved the occa- 
sion of betaking himself to the study of virtue and philos- 
ophy. Seneca says, he enjoyed his relations as one that 
was to lose them ; and lost them as one who had them still 
in possession. A Spartan woman had five sons in the army 
on the day of battle When a soldier came running from 



DIRECTIONS. 



331 



the camp to the city to bring tidings, she, waiting at the 
gate to hear his report, asked, " What news ?" Says the 
messenger, " Thy five sons are slain." " You fool," says 
she, " I did not ask after them. How goes it in the field of 
battle?" "Why," says the messenger, " we have gained 
the victory ; Sparta is safe." " Then let us be thankful," 
says she, " to the gods, for our deliverance and continued 
freedom !" Seneca speaks to God in such language as this : 
" I only want to know your will ; as soon as I know what 
that is, I am always of the same mind. I do not say you 
have taken from me ; that looks as if I were unwilling ; but 
that you have accepted from me what I am ready to offer." 



SECTION XI. 

DIRECTIONS TO MOURNERS. 

Lay the foundation of your consolation right, namely, in 
true conversion, a state of grace, the pardon of sin, and the 
favor of God. Lay the foundation of it within you, and not 
on things without ; above, and not on things below ; on 
Christ, and not on yourselves ; in the principles and pros- 
pects of religion, and not on the things of this world ; in the 
rectification of your opinions, in the government of your 
appetites and passions, and in possessing your souls in 
patience : without this, you have something else to cry for 
than a lost friend. You have a lost soul to bewail, of 
infinitely more concern to you than any thing or any person 
in the world. 

If my comfort depend only on things without me, it lies 
at the mercy of so many accidents that it must needs be 
very precarious. But if I can say, " I am at peace with 
God ; I have a conscience void of offence towards God and 
man ; I have a good hope through grace, as to another 



332 



THE MOURNER. 



world, and my heart does not condemn me," tne accidents 
of life cannot utterly ruin the peace of such a soul. This is 
that peace of which Christ says, " Peace I leave with you ; 
my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I 
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid." 

The man who lays the foundation of his peace and quiet 
in estate, relations, health, pleasures of life, or life itself, 
when any of these is in danger, his peace is shaken or 
destroyed ; whereas the man is immovable who can think 
and say thus : 

" I am sick, but not afraid to die : it is he who is sick 
and fears to die, whose peace is destroyed by sickness. I 
am in pain it is true, but I have patience to possess my 
soul ; it is he who is in pain and has no patience, whose 
comfort is destroyed. I am slighted and disregarded, per- 
haps for want of merit ; if I am conscious of my deserving 
better, let that be my consolation, without estimating my 
comfort and peace by the opinion of others. I am lessened 
in estate, and reduced to narrow circumstances ; true, but I 
am not covetous : had I been covetous of much, all my com- 
fort and peace would have gone with my substance. But I 
plainly see the comfort of life does not lie so much in the 
abundance of these things, as in the art of enjoying a little. 
I have lost indeed a dear friend, and a lovely creature ; but 
my happiness was more wrapt up in* that God to whom my 
beloved friends are gone : and God will bring them along 
with him. That which beautified their character and made 
them so lovely was what could not be lost, but is perfected 
by the translation. I love them still, and take a pleasure in 
loving them, which relieves the sorrow for their absence. 
The man who does not fear death so much as an ill life ; 
who thinks impatience a worse disease than gout or stone ; 
who thinks pride a greater reproach than being slighted ; 
eovetousness a viler thing than poverty ; and that to offend 



DIRECTIONS. 



333 



God with immoderate grief is worse than any loss whatso- 
ever, that man's comfort and peace is not precarious ; does 
not lie at the mercy of other men's fancies and passions, and 
is above the reach of accidents." 

He knows not the world nor himself, who depends upon 
a life such as ours ; who is distracted at a painful accident, 
as if he was privileged from the common lot, and some 
strange thing had happened to him. Did you never before 
imagine that the person you are now lamenting was mortal 
as well as yourself ; that what was born must die ; that 
what has befallen others might happen to you ; that what 
owes its value only to fancy, has only a fanciful worth? 
And what can be bought with money here on earth, is not 
more excellent nor less perishing. 

There is indeed a knowledge of the world that polishes 
the gentleman, to be learned in courts and camps and in 
a general conversation ; but the knowledge that secures a 
man's peace and quiet through all events, is to be found only 
in the Bible. That book will tell us that this world is not 
our resting-place, for it is polluted ; that it must not and 
cannot be our portion ; that it is not an equal price for our 
souls, though we could gain the whole of it ; that the world 
lies in wickedness, an enemy to Christ and his interest ; that 
it is one of our enemies we must overcome by faith ; that it 
is of a perishing nature, and in continual change and vari- 
ation. 

To consider this world as philosophers, it is a fine build- 
ing ; every thing is adjusted in number, weight, and measure. 
We admire "the heavens, the work of thy fingers ; the moon 
and the stars, which thou hast ordained." But why does 
the astronomer stop short at the visible heavens ? Why not 
penetrate further, to that glory which God hath set above 
those heavens ? " Faith is the evidence of things not seen" 
by the telescope. There is the Christian's home and coun- 
try. Here we are strangers and pilgrims, passing through "a 



334 



THE MOURNER. 



foreign land. In short, he knows the world best who comes 
up to that text, " Love not the world, nor the things of the 
world;" and concludes, with the great Mornseus, that "if 
all the world was made for man, man was made for some- 
thing more than all the world." Let us balance the 
thoughts of what we have lost with the remembrance' of 
what we were made for. 

What do we see in ourselves that we should expect 
always to be pleased ? We are not better than our fathers. 
If I am dead to this world, why am I so distracted that 
another is dead out of it ? If I am not dead to this world, 
I ought to be so, and to be more concerned for my own soul 
than for any departed friend. Learn to think and speak of 
this world now, as you will do when you are going out of it. 
Acknowledge it to be a place where ,you must daily lose 
something till you have lost all. And let your soul assur- 
edly conceive, that having had its original from heaven, it 
is one of those things which must one day return thither. 
Bishop Patrick. 

While your sorrows are afloat, turn them into a godly 
channel. It will be more easy at such a time to employ 
them in mourning for sin. This is fetching "meat out of 
the eater," and comfort out of trouble. This is making sor- 
row, otherwise fruitless and hurtful, to be of use and service. 
So the skilful husbandman directs the stream to his mill, 
and makes it work, instead of running to waste or doing 
mischief. Perhaps this is one intention of the providence. 
At least, it will be a wise and happy improvement of it. 
" Since I am now so ready to burst into tears, I will weep 
part of them over a sinful life." This will make it a heal- 
ing wound and a comforting sorrow, and at the same time 
give vent to nature and exercise to grace. 

This is often best done upon our knees in prayer : a time 
of affliction is a time of prayer. " Is any afflicted ? let him 
pray." "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will 



DIRECTIONS. 



335 



deliver thee." "Be careful for nothing" overmuch; <; but 
in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiv- 
ing, let your requests be made known unto God." Phil. 4 : 6. 
For " he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not 
despise their prayer." Psa. 102 : 17. Thus God invitea 
you to come and drop some of your tears at his feet ; it is 
likely he may turn your sorrows into joy. It will compose 
the spirit, calm the passions, spiritualize the affections, 
strengthen faith, hope, anji love ; for under the influence of 
the other world, we always less regard this. 

0 Holy Spirit, is it not thy name and office to be the 
Comforter ? Does not my case need comfort ? Art not 
thou as willing and ready to help as I am desirous of it ? 
Come, Holy Ghost, and do thine office of consolation to a 
poor soul that needs it. Lord, increase my faith ; and in the 
same proportion my sorrows will abate, and my consolation 
will abound. Hope and faith are the only supports under 
tilings that have no cure in this world. It is in believing that 
w r e have joy unspeakable and full of glory. It is in believing 
that our hearts are fortified against the troubles and pangs 
that others feel. So Christ has connected them together : 
" Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, be- 
lieve also in me." Lord, I believe ; help thou my unbelief. 
I believe in God and the great truths of natural religion ; I 
believe also in thee, and the peculiar discoveries of the gos- 
pel; I believe thy providence manages all things according 
to the purpose of thine own will and wisdom ; I believe thy 
promises shall be fulfilled, which are a great support to my 
mind ; I believe thy watchful care and never-failing love to 
thine own ; I believe the reality and excellency of the future 
world, and have good hope, through grace, of my title to it. 
And how little, how very little, do all these lower things 
appear, when that world is in full view. The just, who 
live by faith and die in faith, may rejoice in faith in the 
midst of their sorrows. The joys of faith are the best rem 



386 



THE MOURNER. 



edy against the grief of sense. " I had fainted, unless I had 
believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living." 
It was faith, the evidence of things not seen and the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, to which those heroes of faith and 
patience owe their glorious character, Hebrews 11 — ""Who 
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. 
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need 
be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations ; that 
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of 
gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be 
found unto praise and honor and glory, at the appearing of 
Jesus Christ ; whom, having not seen, ye love : in whom, 
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory." 1 Pet. 1 : 5—8. Grief 
says, " The dear creature is gone." Faith says, " Gone 
before, not lost ; and the meeting again is certain, and will 
be full of comfort : it will begin in a little time, and con- 
tinue for .ever." 

It is of great use to consider the examples of patience 
under afflictions, that are to be met with in sacred and com- 
mon history. " Take, my brethren, the prophets who have 
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering 
affliction, and of patience." James 5 : 10. And the first he 
mentions is Job : " Ye have heard of the patience of Job." 
One part of his estate was plundered by the inroads of his 
enemies ; another part was burnt up with lightning from 
heaven ; his children were cut off at once by a violent tem- 
pest, seven sons and three daughters ; his own health was 
turned into sickness and corruption ; from the crown of the 
head to the sole of the foot were boils and sores. He takes 
a bit of broken potsherd to scrape himself withal, his fingers 
being too sore for that poor office. He sat down among the 
ashes ; nor could he there be quiet : he is insulted by one of 
the foolish women, and teased with uncharitable censures 
and false reasoning of friends, who endeavored to wrangle 



DIRECTIONS. 



337 



hirci out of all that remained of comfort to him, namely, the 
inward consciousness of his own integrity. How great were 
his trials ; how glorious his patience ! 

When Aaron lost his two sons, it is said, "Aaron held 
his peace." When Eli heard the prediction of the death and 
ruin of his family, he answered, "It is the Lord; let him do 
what seemeth good unto him." And David says, "I was 
dumb ; I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." 
Abraham's offering his son with such resolution was a great 
thing, and God estimated it according to his intention. 
The story of the mother of the Maccabees, who sacrificed her 
seven sons, and stood by the execution, that she might help 
them through their martyrdom by her counsel and comfort, 
has something in it uncommonly heroic ; she also following 
them herself in the same glorious path. 

Among the primitive Christians, there are many such 
instances of suffering and patience, a contempt of this world . 
and an eagerness after another, that may well make us 
ashamed for our feebleness under lesser trials, with much 
greater advantages. 

But above all, let us keep in our eye the pattern of our 
Lord Jesus Christ : " Consider Zziw-that endured such con- 
tradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and 
faint in your minds." Heb. 12:3. "Looking unto Jesus, 
the author and finisher of our faith;" the fountain of all our 
supplies, and the pattern of our behavior. 

It is great wisdom not to have these principles to lay in 
when they are to be employed; nor these supports to get 
when they should be used. It is no wonder people are at a 
loss in a time of affliction, when they are strangers to those 
things wherein the best consolation doth consist. There are 
^no such cordials as the Christian religion affords ; but they 
are nothing, if, like cordials, they are only used when a faint- 
ing-fit comes. They must be daily made our food, estab 
lished principles, and settled habits ; practised into a second 

Affl. Man's Companion. 15 



338 



THE MOUftNEJi. 



nature; or else we shall be like soldiers unexercised before 
the attack, or travellers unprovided at the moment of the 
journey. People, in other cases, do not pretend to perform 
what they have not learned to do ; to play upon an instru 
merit they have never practised ; to perform an exercise they 
never made themselves masters of; but Christianity they 
think may be acted extempore, and upon a sudden, without 
learning it. But we see that will not do, where no habit of 
submission is acquired beforehand. Where the mind is not 
prepared by the frequent actings of resignation, men have 
yet to learn how to use and how to apply the principles of 
peace and comfort, if they possess them ; and much more 
still are they at a loss, if those principles are to be got at 
the very time they are to be used. They are not then capa 
ble of the consolation arising from principles and prospects 
they are utter strangers to. They wonder what you mean. 
They call for the dear creature that is gone ; they grieve and 
grieve on ; they tease themselves ; they offend God ; they 
have no comfort under present calamity ; they draw more 
calamity upon themselves by the excess or continuance of 
their sorrow ; and all for want of preparing a good founda- 
tion against such a time to come. 



SECTION XII. 

THE CLOSE. 

" I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concern- 
ing them which are asleep; that ye sorrow not even as 
others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus 
died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, 
will God bring with him. The dead in Christ shall rise 
first." 1 Thess. 4: 13, 14. Let them that have no hope, 
have no bounds to their sorrow, and be as heathenish in the 
manner of it as they are in its cause and rise, namely, the 



CONCLUSION. 



339 



want of hope. "The righteous hath hope in his death;" 
therefore we will not despair in our sorrows. Other people, 
how many soever in number or great in figure, are not to be 
followed in any excess. A Christian neither lives or dies, 
rejoices or sorrows, as others do ; according to his own char- 
acter, he "sorrows not as do others." 

The caution against immoderate sorrow is grounded upon 
the present condition of the godly dead: "They sleep in 
Jesus." And upon the future meeting we shall have, "God 
will bring them with him." And the certainty of these 
things; as certain as that "Jesus died and rose again." II 
we believe one, we must believe the other. For if you 
believe that Jesus died and rose again — as surely you do — 
you must also believe that them who sleep in Jesus will 
God bring with him. And then w r e shall all be together 
again. 

How 7 soft a name is given to the Christian's death ; and 
how lovely a notion of their present state: "They sleep in 
Jesus." 

"They sleep." Why do you mourn as if they were ex- 
tinct ; as if they were annihilated and utterly lost ? 

Mourner. But they are lost to me. 

Answer. Not for ever; not for a very long time: "Yet 
a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will 
not tarry." "When they were alive, sleep and absence sepa- 
rated you for a great part of the time. 

Mourner. But I knew then they would awake from 
sleep, and return from absence ; but now — 

Answer. And do not you now believe that they will 
awake from sleep, and return from absence? But when 
you say you knew that they would awake from sleep, and 
return from absence, you speak in terms too strong. You 
might hope, indeed, and expect that they would awake and 
return; but that they would certainly do so, is more than 
ary one could insure, who knows not what a day may bring 



340 



THE MOURNER. 



forth. But this we certainly know, that them who sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with him, as surely as we believe that 
Jesus died and rose again from the dead. 

Mourner. But it will be a great while first. 

Answer. What if it be? Is it not worth tarrying for? 
And it may not be so long neither as you imagine. 

Mourner. But what must I do in the mean time ? 

Answer. Do but these two or three things, and all shall 
be well. See that your own soul is safe ; secure your happy 
meeting, that your separation may not be eternal ; give due 
allowance to the passion of nature, and refuse not the help 
of grace. Time will do something; reflection more; and 
religion will complete the work of resignation. 

They that are asleep in Jesus, are as truly alive as you, 
and in a thousand times more excellent sense, and to more 
excellent purposes; for he who died for us, did it for this end, 
that "whether we wake or sleep, we should live together 
with him." 1 Thess. 5 : 10. For "God is not the God 
of the dead, but of the living," Luke 20 : 38 — living, at 
present, as to the soul; and to live hereafter in the body 
again. 

"We live together with him, whether we wake or sleep." 
They who sleep in Jesus, live together with him in his pres- 
ence and enjoyment. In this respect it is that Christ says, 
"He that believes in me, shall never die " # — never die 
totally. But when the body sleeps in Jesus, the soul lives 
"together with him," and proceeds in a life that death can- 
not discontinue, nor eternity exhaust. 

Sleep is a rest from weariness, from the cares and labors 
of the day. Such is the death of the Christian. 

" Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; they rest from 
tfieir labors:" from the labors of their calling, as men; from 
the labors of their duty as Christians, because all the duty 

* According to the letter of the translation ; though it may be ren- 
dered, "He that believes in me, shall not die for ever." 



CONCLUSION. 



341 



that follows in the separate state, will be without labor and 
weariness ; from the labor of opposing sin, and temptations 
to it ; from all the troubles of life, and the sorrows attending 
it. It is not merely farewell husband, wife, and children; 
but farewell sorrow and sin ; farewell suffering ; farewell 
corruption, weakness, temptation : welcome rest from all 
these troubles. 

Sleep is a refreshment, and a reparation of spirits ; and 
to the better part death gives a refreshment that amounts to 
a satisfaction. " I shall be satisfied, when I awake with 
thy likeness." Psalm 17 : 15. Which some have under- 
stood of the soul's awakening to a nobler life, upon the body's 
falling asleep. 

Sleep is but for a while, ami then we wake again ; and 
death is but for a while, and we awake in the morning of 
the resurrection. What David says of his lying down in his 
bed and rising, we may say of our lying down in the grave 
and rising : "I laid me down and slept ; for the Lord sus- 
tained me." So man lieth down and awaketh not, as to the 
body, till the heavens be no more. "If a man die," says 
Job, "shall he live again?" . Shall he indeed? If so, I 
acknowledge there is consolation in the thought, and wonder 
in the work, to support and stay my mind ; and therefore all 
the days of my appointed time, that I have to lie in the 
grave, there will I wait till my change, by the resurrection, 
come. For thou shalt call, by the sound of the last trumpet 
and voice of the Lord, and I will answer. Thou wilt have 
a desire to the work of thine own hands, to restore and im- 
prove it, and not suffer it always to lie there in rubbish. Job 
14 : 14, 15. Sleep is but a short death, and death a longer 
sleep to the body. " The hour is coming, when all that are 
in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; 
they that have done good, unto the resurrection cf life." 
John 5 : 28, 29. May they sleep sweetly, may they wake 
joyfully. They were Christ's friends as well as yours. 

15* 



342 



THE MOURNER. 



Allow him to have his friends about him, even as you have 
had them so long. It may be, before Christ has had them 
so long with him as some of you have had them here below, 
you will be with them again ; and Christ and you and they 
be all together. 

" I would not have you ignorant, brethren." Immodei 
ate sorrow is very much owing to ignorance, or a knowledge 
that has no effect to govern the passions, which is the same 
thing with ignorance, except that it entitles to the greater 
number of stripes. Do not behave as if you were ignorant 
of the frail nature and short duration of the comforts of this 
life ; as if you were ignorant of the Christian hope, life, and 
immortality ; as if you were ignorant of the present state of 
them that sleep in Jesus, how happy it is, and of the certain 
future meeting again with advantage to all those excellen- 
ces, for which you loved them here so well. Prayer will 
give a vent to a great deal of that sorrow that torments 
others ; and hope will fetch in a great deal of comfort which 
a stranger intermeddles not with. They are therefore men- 
tioned together by the apostle : " Rejoicing in hope ; patient 
in tribulation : continuing instant in prayer." Rom. 12 : 12. 
" He is a miserable man indeed, who is afflicted and cannot 
pray;"' and whose days are "spent without hope." Job 
7:6. Where there is no hope, there is no comfort ; where 
there are no grounds of hope, there are no grounds of com- 
fort. And when the prospects of hope are neglected, and we 
act as if we were ignorant of them or knew not how to use 
them, the grievousness of our sorrow is very much owing to 
ourselves, and is its own punishment, though not the only 
one we deserve. 

Moderate sorrow is allowable on account of our own loss, 
even of those who do sleep in Jesus. The apostle does not 
say, he would not have them sorrow at all, but not " as 
others." He does not say, I would not have you sorrow at 
all, but not as those who have no such hopes as you have 



CONCLUSION. 



343 



It is the regulation of sorrow that he aims at, and not the 
total suppression of it. Grace doth not destroy nature, but 
refines it ; it doth not extinguish the affections and passions, 
but rectifies and moderates them. To be altogether uncon- 
cerned, is unnatural ; to be so overmuch, is unchristian : even 
as both extremes are hurtful to any soil — either to have no 
water at all. or to have it overflow and drown the land 
round about. 



HELPS TO BIBLE STUDY. 



The Family Bible, Koyal Octavo, Revised Edition. 

With brief Notes and Instructions, Marginal References, an Intro- 
duction to each book, a Harmony of the Gospels, new Maps, Tables 
of Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, Bible Chronology, and a 
Family Record. For general use in family worship and Bible 
study. 1, 504 pages. In one volume sheep, or three volumes cloth. 

Family Testament and Psalms, 

"With Nojies, etc. A beautiful volume of 524 pages super-royal 
8vo. 

Pocket Testament, 

"With Notes, Maps, etc. 18mo, 810 pages. 

A Dictionary of the Holy Bible, 

For general use in the study of the Scriptures, with five Maps, 
Chronological and other Tables, and -two hundred and fifty Engrav- 
ings. 534 pages, large 12mo. 

Bible Atlas and Gazetteer, 
Royal octavo, 32 pages, with six fine maps, a list of all the geo- 
graphical names in Scripture, and valuable Tables. 

Ornden's Condensed Concordance. 

A fine edition. 561 pages, 8vo. 

Locke's Commonplace-Book to the Holy Bible, 

412 pages 8vo. 

The Bible Text-Book, 
Or the principal Texts relating to the Persons, Places, and Sub- 
jects occurring in the Holy Scriptures. Colored Maps, and Tables. - 
280 pages, 18mo.- 

Youth's Bible Studies, 
Complete in six parts. Part I. The Pentateuch. II. Historical 
Books. III. The Prophets. IV. Poetical Books. V. The Gospels. 
VI. The Acts, Epistles, etc. In a set with case. 

G-allaudet's Youth's Scripture Biography, 
Complete in eleven volumes. 49 Engravings. In a casQ. 

Published and for sale by the American Teact Society, 150 Nassau-street, 
New York; Boston, 40 CornhiU; Eochestee, 75 State-street; Philadelphia, 
1210 Chestnut-street; Baltlmoee, 73 West-Fayette-street ; Cinclnnati, 163 Wal- 
nut-street; Chicago, 7 Custom-house-place; St. Louis, 9 South-Fifth-street; 
and to be had of the principal booksellers. 

691 





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